Middle East ETF News Older than One Year
MIDEAST STOCKS-Saudi rebounds on strong oil prices, rest of Gulf down
May 17, 2018-- Higher oil prices helped Saudi Arabia's stock market to offset some of this week's losses on Thursday, though other Gulf markets were down as geopolitical concerns continued to weigh on investors in the region.
Trading activity was also slow because of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, traders said.
Source: Zawya.com
ADS Investment Solutions licences new FTSE Russell Saudi Arabia index
May 15, 2018--New FTSE ADS Custom Saudi Minimum Variance Index developed in collaboration with Abu Dhabi-based ADS Investment Solutions
ADS Investment Solutions to launch ETF tracking the index to be listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange
Index designed to minimise volatility of the FTSE Saudi Arabia All Cap Index
Reflects growing demand from investors for benchmark and analytic solutions to facilitate investments into Saudi Arabia
FTSE Russell, the global index, data and analytics provider, announced today that it has launched a new Saudi Arabia-focused index. The FTSE ADS Custom Saudi Minimum Variance Index has been developed in collaboration with Abu Dhabi-based international financial services company, ADS Investment Solutions. The index has been licensed by ADS Investment Solutions for a new exchange traded fund (ETF), incorporated in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), to be listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
Source: FTSE Russell
Warning! Stocks around the GCC are taking a hit
May 11, 2018--The GCC has been struggling recently due to geopolitical problems in the Arab world which translated badly on the GCC stock market.
The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) index has been registering low results for the past four weeks.
The index lost 55.2 points, or 2.2%, to close at 2,881.8 points in a week, registering its fourth successive weekly decline, according to Surperformance, a website for stock market news.
Source: ameinfo.com
MIDEAST STOCKS-Saudi petrochemicals surge as politics pulls down most markets
May 10, 2018--Saudi Arabian petrochemical shares surged on Thursday as Brent oil hit $78 a barrel, while most of the region's stock markets fell because of geopolitical tensions after Israeli forces traded fire with Iranian forces in Syria.
The Saudi index rose 0.5 percent as the biggest petrochemical producer, Saudi Basic Industries, added one percent.
Source: Zawya.com
UAE stocks likely to head north on Trump's Iran decisions: analysisUAE stocks likely to head north on Trump's Iran decisions: analysis
May 9, 2018--The UAE bourses are expected to see a positive performance on Wednesday following President Donald Trump's decisions of withdrawing the US from the Iran nuclear deal, analysts told Mubasher.
Source: Zawya.com
IMF Working Papers-Oil Prices and GCC Stock Markets: New Evidence from Smooth Transition Models
May 9, 2018--Summary:
Our paper examines the effect of oil price changes on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock markets using nonlinear smooth transition regression (STR) models. Contrary to conventional wisdom, our empirical results reveal that GCC stock markets do not have similar sensitivities to oil price changes.
We document the presence of stock market returns' asymmetric reactions in some GCC countries, but not for others. In Kuwait's case, negative oil price changes exert larger impacts on stock returns than positive oil price changes. When considering the asymmetry with respect to the magnitude of oil price variation, we find that Oman's and Qatar's stock markets are more sensitive to large oil price changes than to small ones. Our results highlight the importance of economic stabilization and reform policies that can potentially reduce the sensitivity of stock returns to oil price changes, especially with regard to the existence of asymmetric behavior.
Source: IMF
BUZZ-Dubai Financial Market down almost 1.7% after Q1 profit slump
May 8, 2018--Shares of Dubai Financial Market are down almost 1.7 pct in early trade after its Q1 net profit dropped by more than half.
DFM, the only listed bourse in the Gulf, reported a quarterly net profit of 48.9 mln dirhams ($13.31 mln) vs 102.3 mln dirhams a year earlier.
Source: Zawya.com
MIDEAST STOCKS-Markets down on Iran concerns, EM weakness; blue-chips lift Saudi
May 3, 2018--Middle East stock markets moved down in line with global emerging markets and because of persisting geopolitical tensions, as the risk of the United States pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal looms.
The Saudi Arabian index was in negative territory most of the day but closed up 0.1 percent as some selective buying for blue-chip stocks such as Al Rajhi Bank, up 0.8 percent, and Saudi Arabia Mining Co (Ma'aden), up 2.4 percent, offered support to an otherwise sluggish market.
Source: Zawya.com
MIDEAST STOCKS-Saudi hit by valuation woes, Drake & Scull hurts Dubai
May 1, 2018--Saudi stocks slid 0.6 percent on Tuesday as concerns grew about rich valuations for blue-chip stocks after the region's biggest stock market hit a more than a two-year high last week.
Most Gulf markets were lower with Dubai and Qatar both falling more than 1 percent.
Source: Zawya.com
IMF Staff Country Reports-Israel: Selected Issues
May 1, 2018--UNLEASHING ISRAEL'S POTENTIAL: IS BOOSTING PUBLIC INVESTMENT THE ANSWER? 1
Israel can be characterized as a dual economy, that is well known for its dynamic high-tech sector, but the remainder of the economy has relatively low productivity. One of the factors weighing on Israel's labor productivity are its sizable infrastructure needs, which may also hinder the labor participation of some groups.
To address this issue, the authorities are preparing a long-term strategy to support higher infrastructure investment. This paper analyzes the macro-fiscal implications of an increase in infrastructure spending, taking into account Israel's dual economy character.
A. Israel's Infrastructure Needs
1. Israel's labor productivity is low and the gap with peers persists. Israel's high-tech sector
is famous for startups, but it also includes R&D centers of many major technology companies. The
high-tech sector currently comprises around 21 percent of gross value added, up from 12½ percent
in 1995. Despite the strong performance of this sector, Israel's overall labor productivity rose by only ¾ percent annually in recent decades, leaving its sizable productivity shortfalls virtually unchanged.
Source: IMF
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