Thursday, November 3, 2016Safar 3, 1438 AH

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IBQ brand campaign centres on human relations in banking

International Bank of Qatar (IBQ) has launched a new brand campaign that places customer service and client

relationships as well as stakeholder en-gagement at the core of its banking op-erations.

Launched during IBQ’s 60th anniver-sary held on Tuesday, the new campaign emphasises the signifi cance of human relations in the banking sector through its new brand promise: ‘Making Banking More Personal’.

IBQ managing director Omar Bouhad-iba said, “Today, as we draw on 60 years of expertise and knowledge of personal relationship banking, we celebrate a ma-jor milestone in the bank’s history with our loyal customers, dedicated employ-ees, faithful partners, and dear friends. We aim to continue to play our role in the development of Qatar for the generations to come.”

One of the highlights of the anniver-sary celebrations was the awarding of tokens of appreciation to fi ve of IBQ’s oldest customers in recognition of their longstanding loyalty and trust towards the bank over the years. The souvenirs were awarded by the bank’s vice chair-

man Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim bin Mo-hamed al-Thani and Bouhadiba.

“We are extremely proud of being a pioneer in the banking industry for 60 years now, making history at a time of rapid growth and increasing sophisti-cation in the region’s capital markets,” Bouhadiba said.

He added, “In line with the Qatar Na-tional Vision 2030, we at IBQ, fully em-brace the opportunities off ered by the Qatari market as we continue to off er a solid platform for the country’s market players to grow.”

The celebration was attended by IBQ customers, investors, employees, and other guests. The gala dinner also fea-tured a documentary showcasing the bank’s history and legacy.

Founded in 1956 as the Ottoman Bank, IBQ is one of the oldest banks in Qatar, off ering personal banking services to Qatari families and investors. Over the last decades, the bank went through a journey of changes in shareholdings and rebranding. The bank was renamed In-ternational Bank of Qatar in 2004 and is now 100% Qatari with a very solid out-look.

LOW OIL PRICES ENVIRONMENT: Page 16

Local debt market key to Qatar infrastructure development, says Doha Bank CEO

Tata empire split in two as Mistry stays chairman of unitsOusted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry continues to head units; Tata Motors, Tata Power say Mistry is still chairman

BloombergMumbai

Ratan Tata replaced Cyrus Mistry atop the holding

company of India’s biggest conglomerate in a sin-

gle board meeting. Evicting Mistry from the boards

of about a dozen companies in the group won’t be

so easy.

A week after the coup at Tata Sons Ltd, Mistry is still

chairman and non-executive director of Tata Mo-

tors Ltd, owner of Jaguar Land Rover; Tata Power

Ltd and Indian Hotels Co, which runs the Pierre in

New York, the companies said in stock exchange fil-

ings on Tuesday. Tata Sons doesn’t hold a majority

of the stock in those and other group units, making

the task of evicting Mistry more diff icult.

The directors of key listed companies are likely to

meet in the next fortnight to discuss earnings for

the July-September quarter, giving investors an

early indicator of how the dual power structure will

aff ect the businesses. The anomaly could also put

off potential candidates for the top job at Mumbai

House - the south Mumbai headquarters of the Tata

Group for nearly a century. There are 29 publicly

traded companies under Tata Sons, with a com-

bined market value of about $120bn.

“The long drawn-out battle will slowly and gradu-

ally erode the ‘Tata premium’ that group companies

traditionally enjoyed,” said AK Prabhakar, head

of research at IDBI Capital Market Services Ltd In

Mumbai. “No major decisions will be taken until

Mistry’s successor is in place.”

Since Mistry’s removal as group chairman, Tata’s

listed companies have lost a combined $6.7bn in

market value.

Debasis Ray, a spokesman for Tata Sons, did not im-

mediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Mistry’s off ice declined to comment on the matter.

So far, there’s little sign that Ratan Tata, 78, and

Mistry, 48, will find an amicable solution. Mistry was

“shocked beyond words” at the decision to remove

him, calling it “unique in the annals of corporate

history,” according to an e-mail he sent to the board

that was seen by Bloomberg News. Since then both

sides have issued a volley of acrimonious public

statements, slamming the other side.

Tata Sons said on October 27 that Mistry’s leaked e-

mail “makes unsubstantiated claims and malicious

allegations” and that records to disprove them will

be disclosed to “appropriate forums, if and when

necessary.”

A release from Mistry’s off ice on Tuesday accused

Tata’s side of making insinuations that were “false”

and “mischievous.”

“It is not likely to be very easy to find a solution,”

said Hyderabad-based Kavil Ramachandran, execu-

tive director of the Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for

Family Enterprise at the Indian School of Business.

The company would do better to temper emotions

with the help of an outsider, possibly a respected

member of the Parsi community to which both

Ratan Tata and Mistry belong, he said.

With Mistry giving no indication as yet whether he

intends to resign from the individual boards, inves-

tors are bracing for confusion due to the new struc-

ture, said Mahendra Patil, a managing partner at

Mumbai-based financial services company XMPUS

Financial Services. For Mistry to be removed from

the boards of individual companies, the directors

and shareholders would have to vote, he said.

“Decision-making of critical issues pertaining to

the operations of the companies might be deferred

till there is a clarity on who’s really in charge,” Patil

said in a telephone interview. “There is a possibility

of a long-drawn boardroom as well as courtroom

battle.”

While Tata Sons typically owns around 25% to 30%

of the stock in the group’s major units, it probably

has enough persuasive power to get other minority

shareholders to side with them, said Shriram Subra-

manian, founder of proxy- advisory firm InGovern

Research Services.

Mistry is also chairman of software services firm

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, the most valuable

asset in the group, but Tata Sons holds 73% of that

unit.

Under Section 169 of India’s Companies Act, Tata

Sons, as a shareholder, can propose a resolution to

remove Mistry as a director, he said. The board then

puts the resolution up for vote to all shareholders

after giving the director an opportunity to be heard.

In the event, he refuses to do so, the board can vote

for his removal.

But Tata doesn’t need to strip Mistry of his direc-

torship to stop him running the individual units.

Instead, it can persuade the board to vote for his

removal as chairman in the same way the holding

company did. Tata Sons itself hasn’t removed

Mistry as a director, only as chairman, Subramanian

said.

“If the idea is to only remove Mistry as a chairman,

then the board can express no confidence in him

and ask him to step down,” he said.

Portugal doubles value of its exports to Qatar in H1 2016By Peter AlagosBusiness Reporter

Portugal almost doubled the value of its exports to Qatar in the fi rst half of 2016 compared to the same period last year

amid “improving” trade relations between the two countries, according to an offi cial.

Arab-Portugal Chamber of Commerce secretary general and CEO Dr Aida Bouab-dellah said from January to June, Portu-gal’s total exports to Qatar amounted to €15.6mn, while imports stood at €7.2mn.

“We have very good relations with Qa-tar. Our trade balance has been improving throughout the years,” Bouabdellah told Gulf Times on the sidelines of a meeting held with Qatar Chamber offi cials in Doha yesterday.

She said in 2015, Portugal’s exports to Qatar amounted to around €17.7mn com-pared with around €19mn in 2014.

“Portugal imported from Qatar around €19.1mn worth of products in 2015 com-pared with €16.9mn in 2014, said Bouab-dellah, who accompanied seven Portuguese companies during the meeting.

She said the top products exported by Portugal to Qatar in in 2015 were stone and plaster, cement, and ceramic, representing around 20% of the total exports. Trailing behind was textiles, followed by goods and other products, she also said.

“Portugal also exported some base met-als and articles such as machinery, electric materials, and other products. On the other hand, topping the list of imports are plastics and others, representing almost 97%. This was followed by textiles and other prod-ucts,” she said.

Citing Portugal’s technical and indus-trial base, Bouabdellah said the country also specialises in classic industries, textile, shoes, glass, construction materials, food stuff , health sector and others. She also noted that Portugal exports €1bn worth of shoes per year.

She noted that there are also several high-level institutions and companies from countries such as Europe, the US, Ja-pan, and China that are investing in Por-tugal.

Qatar Chamber board member Ali Ab-dullatif al-Misnad said, “I think there is a common ground between Qatar and Portu-gal...It is important that we learn from each other and that both countries keep the trade balance at a level that we wish to increase more and more so, we have to see the best way to encourage that.”

Daniel Pontes, economic and commercial attache at the Portuguese Embassy in Doha, said there are 10 major Portuguese com-panies operating in Qatar in the engineer-ing, architecture, construction, marketing, interior design, technology, and property management sectors.

‘Barwa Real Estate syndicating $250mn Islamic loan’

Barwa Real Estate is raising $250mn via an Islamic syndicated loan led by Standard Chartered, banking sources said.The loan, with a seven-year maturity and off ering a price in the 250-300 basis point range over the London Interbank Off ered Rate, was launched to syndication very recently, they said. The loan will refinance existing debt, one banker said.Barwa could not be reached for immediate

comment. Barwa, 45% owned by Qatari Diar, which in turn is owned by the Qatari Investment Authority, is the largest Qatari real estate company by developments. It had a total asset capitalisation of QR66bn ($18bn) at the end last year, according to its website. The company last week reported a 136.2% rise in third-quarter net profit to QR297.4mn, according to Reuters calculations.

Bouabdellah (centre) during a meeting held yesterday at the Qatar Chamber headquarters.

The anniversary celebrations was highlighted by the awarding of tokens of appreciation to five of IBQ’s oldest customers.

Bouhadiba delivers a speech during the event celebrating IBQ’s 60th anniversary.

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Thursday, November 3, 20162

Qatar shares plunge below 10,100 mark as sell pressure mounts

By Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Small, micro and midcap stocks were battered heavily yesterday, leading the Qatar Stock Exchange

to plunge 129 points and settle below the 10,100 mark.

An across-the-board-selling, par-ticularly in realty, insurance, indus-trials and transport sectors, dragged the 20-stock Qatar Index 1.26% to 10,073.03 points. The market’s year-to-date losses widened to 3.42%.

Foreign institutions’ considerably weakened buying interests were seen instrumental in the rout in the mar-ket, where Islamic stocks were seen declining faster than the conventional ones.

Trade turnover and volumes were on the decline in the bourse, where real estate, banking and consumer goods stocks together constituted about 69% of the total volumes.

Although non-Qatari individual in-vestors exhibited lesser penchant for buying; their local counterparts and Gulf institutions turned bullish and there was substantial weakening of net selling by domestic institutions.

Market capitalisation eroded 1.11%, or more than QR6bn, to QR543.77bn as small, micro, mid and large cap eq-uities melted 3.48%, 2.07%, 1.52% and 0.66% respectively.

The Total Return Index shed 1.26% to 16,297.5 points, the All Share In-dex by 1.3% to 2,777.32 points and the

Al Rayan Islamic Index by 1.97% to 3,657.53 points.

Realty sector saw its index plummet 2.44%, followed by insurance (2.18%), industrials (1.78%), transport (1.76%), consumer goods (1.7%), telecom (0.76%) and banks and fi nancial serv-ices (0.34%).

About 83% of the stocks were in the red with major losers being Industries Qatar, Barwa, Ezdan, Nakilat, QNB, Ooredoo, Vodafone Qatar, Commer-cial Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, Doha Bank, Aamal Company, Qatari Inves-tors Group, Gulf International Serv-ices, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Mazaya Qatar, Alijarah Holding, Dlala, Medicare Group and Milaha; even as QIIB and al khaliji saw their stocks make modest gains.

Non-Qatari institutions’ net buying weakened considerably to QR36.49mn against QR119.2mn the previous day.

Non-Qatari individual investors’ net buying declined to QR0.37mn com-pared to QR2.87mn on November 1.

However, GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR11.75mn against net sellers of QR13.53mn on Tuesday.

Local retail investors were also net buyers to the extent of QR0.26mn compared with net sellers of QR6.35mn the previous day.

GCC individual investors turned net buyers to the tune of QR1.84mn against net sellers of QR0.29mn on November 1.

Domestic institutions’ net prof-it-booking weakened perceptibly to

QR50.74mn compared to QR101.9mn on Tuesday.

Total trade volume fell 29% to 5.59mn shares, value by 31% to QR219.18mn and deals by 4% to 3,255.

There was an 83% plunge in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 0.53mn equities, 84% in value to QR26.74mn and 9% in transactions to 483.

The telecom sector’s trade volume plummeted 58% to 0.59mn stocks, val-ue by 49% to QR11.31mn and deals by 20% to 251.

The real estate sector reported a 1% fall in trade volume to 1.36mn shares; but on a 17% jump in value to QR34.65mn and 31% in transactions to 1,037.

However, the insurance sector’s trade volume grew 30-fold to 0.3mn equities and value by about 14-fold to QR15.06mn on more-than-quadrupled deals to 100.

The consumer goods sector’s trade volume almost tripled to 1.12mn stocks and value soared 69% to QR67.09mn; while transactions shrank 43% to 395.

The market witnessed a 3% gain in the transport sector’s trade volume to 0.33mn shares and 15% in value to QR8.91mn but on a 6% dip in deals to 180.

The banks and fi nancial services sector’s trade volume was up 2% to 1.35mn equities, while value fell 2% to QR55.42mn and transactions by 6% to 809.

In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and govern-ment bonds.

Euromoney Qatar meet to focus on regional slowdown risksThe prospect of a significant slowdown and the measures countries can take to avoid this will be analysed during ‘The Euromoney Qatar Conference’ slated in Doha on December 6-7. Austerity, tightening liquidity, volatile energy prices, and lower investor confidence levels are all having an impact on economic prospects in the region and globally, according to the organisers. However, some nations including Qatar, have opportunities to outperform their peers because of their focus on diversification and long-term investment. Victoria Behn, director, Middle East and Africa, Euromoney Conferences, said, “It’s clear that countries in the region are facing increased pressure on their budgets and are looking for ways to avoid or mitigate the impacts of a slowdown in 2017. “Qatar offers a very positive model for the region due to its efforts to diversify and the long-term planning underpinning the Qatar National Vision 2030, which we think will offer significant insight for the banking leaders attending The Euromoney Qatar Conference 2016.”In order to provide insight into Qatar’s long-term strategy and policies, The Euromoney Qatar Conference will include an official keynote address from HE the Minister of Finance Ali Sherif al-Emadi. In addition, senior executives from the Qatar Financial Centre Authority and QNB Group will take part in a panel discussion on “Qatar’s reaction to the new macroeconomic headwinds,” examining key issues, including the proposed introduction of value added tax and efforts being made to manage liquidity challenges. The session will also look at public spending plans, and the role that institutional investors could play moving forward to ensure delivery and successful execution.According to the most recent Qatar Economic Insight report from QNB Group, non-hydrocarbon investment spending will drive Qatar’s growth in the coming period, with real GDP growth set to accelerate from 3.2% in 2016 to 3.8% in 2017 and 4.1% in 2018. The report also suggests that inflation will rise to 3.2% in 2016 and 3.4% in 2017.

Gulf markets fallReutersDubai

Gulf stock markets fell yesterday after drops in global bourses

and oil prices, but banking shares limited the decline in Saudi

Arabia.

In the nine days through Monday, the Saudi index rocketed

10.1% in response to the success of Riyadh’s international bond

issue, which eased concern about tight liquidity in the banking

system.

On Tuesday, the index pulled back slightly, and it fell a further

0.1% yesterday.

The banking sector edged up 0.04%, suggesting positive senti-

ment due to the bond issue has not yet faded.

The biggest lender, National Commercial Bank, fell back 3.2%

but major Islamic lender Al Rajhi climbed 0.9%.

Dubai’s index fell 0.9% with Emaar Properties losing 1.6%, while

a 1.6% slide in telecommunications operator Etisalat helped to

pull Abu Dhabi’s index down 1.0%.

Kuwait’s stock index edged down 0.1% but Kuwait Finance

House, the country’s biggest Islamic lender, rose 2.1% after

reporting a 20.5% rise in third-quarter net profit to 52.3mn

dinars ($172.9mn).

EFG Hermes had forecast the lender would make a quarterly

net profit of 33.8mn dinars while HSBC had estimated 64.0mn

dinars.

In Egypt, the EGX 30 index of blue chips rose 0.9%, with Global

Telecom adding 2.5% and real estate developer Talaat Mostafa

gaining 1.2%. However, the broader EGX 100 index fell 0.9%.

The government’s Supreme Investment Council on Tuesday

extended a freeze on capital gains tax from shares for three

years.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Oman’s index edged down 0.1% to 5,471

points, while Bahrain’s index fell 0.4% to 1,145 points.

BUSINESS3Gulf Times

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Mubadala said to consider investing in SoftBank fundAbu Dhabi fund would potentially join Saudi Arabia, Qatar; SoftBank is seeking $100bn for the investment vehicle

BloombergLondon

Abu Dhabi investor Mubadala Development Co is in talks with SoftBank Group Corp

about a potential multi-billion dol-lar investment in its technology fund, people familiar with the matter said.

Japan’s SoftBank, run by Masayoshi Son, is also in talks with European and North American investors, one of the people said, asking not to be identi-fi ed because the deliberations are pri-vate. No fi nal agreements have been reached and talks may still falter, the people said.

The Qatar Investment Author-ity sovereign wealth fund is also in discussions to join the project, peo-ple familiar with the matter said last month.

“We are taking a serious look at a potential investment to the fund as we do with similar, strong investment opportunities,” Mubadala spokesman Brian Lott said by phone, declining to comment further. Matthew Nichol-son, a spokesman for SoftBank, de-clined to comment.

SoftBank and Saudi Arabia’s Pub-lic Investment Fund announced the new venture, which will be run by SoftBank’s head of strategic fi nance Rajeev Misra, in October with a fund-raising target of $100bn. The tech-fo-cused vehicle, tentatively named the SoftBank Vision Fund, is appealing to Middle Eastern investors and sover-eign wealth funds, which are looking for new sources of income as a plunge in oil prices puts pressure on econom-

ic growth in the region. At $100bn, the fund would be almost fi ve-times larger than the biggest private equity fund, Blackstone Group’s Blackstone Capital Partners V, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Tokyo-based SoftBank has already agreed to invest at least $25bn and Saudi Arabia may put in as much as $45bn over the next fi ve years, with other large inves-tors making up the rest, the fi rms have said.

Halul Offshore wins coveted Marine AwardHalul Off shore Services Company, the marine off shore services arm of Milaha, has won the prestigious Off shore Marine Award for Owners and Operators at The Seatrade Maritime Awards for the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, and Africa.The award comes in recognition of Halul’s performance and accomplishments in a year of turbulence for the maritime and marine off shore industries.“This award is a strong motivation for us and our team at Halul Offshore and the rest of the Milaha group to give the best we can on a daily basis,” said Abdulrahman Essa al-Mannai, president and CEO of Milaha, the parent company of Halul.Vivek Seth, chief executive of CEO of Halul Off shore, said this year the

company witnessed many milestones with the delivery of the Milaha Explorer lift boat, the opening of Singapore

off ice, and the achievement of 5mn working hours without a major incident.

A visitor looks at a display screen on Softbank Group’s Pepper humanoid robot at the Cutting-Edge IT & Electronics Comprehensive Exhibition (CEATEC) at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, on October 4. Abu Dhabi investor Mubadala Development Co would potentially join Saudi Arabia and Qatar in investing in SoftBank’s planned multi-billion dollar technology fund, people familiar with the matter have said.

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Thursday, November 3, 20164

Global economic conditions are slowly getting back to normal; really?By Christopher Dembik

Global inflation is about to spike due to higher worldwide commodity prices, competitive devaluations (imported inflation) and, to a lesser extent, increasing property prices.The main driver of inflation is, without doubt, higher global commodity prices that have started to rise since the beginning of the summer (+2.3% in September compared to September 2015). Oil prices, which play a key role in the calculation of inflation, rose by almost 55% since its lowest point reached last January. This increase is expected to continue in the coming months, due to declining investment in the oil sector in recent years that will eventually weight on production capacity, and the possibility of Opec agreement regarding the level of production. The success of Saudi Arabia’s first international bond sale two weeks ago (the country raised $17.5bn) could push the country to cooperate to reduce market flooding since it found a new (cheap) way to bring money into the system. If so, it could open the door to a sustainable oil agreement that could result in higher inflation. In the euro area, rising oil prices will inevitably lead to an increase in HICP. We know that, historically, inflation in the eurozone is heavily impacted by year-on-year change on oil price. If inflation would be perfectly correlated with oil price, which is obviously not the case, inflation would increase to around 2.3% next year if oil price remains at $60 per barrel. While it is quite safe to state it won’t make it up there, the direction of inflation is very clear. Even if oil prices fall back to $40 per barrel, inflation is about to pick up significantly next year.A very positive signal regarding inflation is coming from China, where PPI has recently turned into positive territory again (+0.1% in September). If the trend continues in October (PPI data will be published on November 9th), it would mean that China is finally getting out of deflation. From being the largest worldwide exporter of deflation, China will become – almost from one day to another – an exporter of inflation, which will have key global implications regarding the dynamics of inflation. As a result of higher commodity prices and currency devaluation, in many countries, inflation came out higher than expected in recent weeks. In New Zealand, CPI rose 0.2% in third quarter from a year earlier

(versus 0.1% according to the consensus), which temporarily boosted NZD/USD on the market.In the UK, CPI was 1% in September from 0.6% in August due the fall in the pound which pushed up the import costs of domestic manufacturers. We believe that market concerns about inflationary pressures are quite exaggerated for the moment. It seems obvious to us the British government is pretty comfortable with a lower GBP exchange rate since it helps exports, provides support to the equity market and gives competitive advantage to local producers to the detriment of foreign producers. Lower pound should not push the Bank of England to scale back further accommodative measures.Therefore, we still think there is a decent chance of another cut in interest rates in November, which will fuel the depreciation of the GBP and increase import prices as a consequence.Moreover, in Europe, the increase in property prices is also a factor of higher headline inflation. In Spain, property prices are still 30% below their pre-crisis level but, in core countries, prices continue to jump, sometimes quite sharply. In Germany, prices are up by 30% and in Scandinavian countries, it has skyrocketed by +57% in Norway and +70% in Sweden. The rise in headline inflation will have a negative impact in terms of economic growth, but it will bring some relief to the economic agents (private and public) who are heavily indebted and are now facing a higher cost of capital. US long-term rates, that serves as proxy to the market, has experienced a net appreciation since last July.Over the period, US 10-year bond yield has risen by 37 basis points, US 20-year bond yield by 46 basis points and US 30-year bond yield by 38 basis points. This increase indicates that rates have reached a bottom and they are getting back to more normal levels. This is currently not a concern since, in real terms, US interest rates remain at very attractive (and low) levels.

Christopher Dembik is head of macro analysis at Saxo Bank.

FOCUS

Hole deepens for Europe drug stocksBloombergZurich

Most European industries have recovered from the post-Brexit vote trauma.

But for healthcare stocks, the pain has only gotten worse.

Disappointing earnings at com-panies from Novartis to Novo Nor-disk, pricing pressure and a lack of new treatments have sent the re-gion’s drugmakers down 4.8% since the market bottomed in June. The shares, among favourites when in-vestors sought safety after the UK secession vote, are now trading at their lowest since February.

The looming US elections are making things worse. Politicians have criticised drugmakers’ policies, driving Democratic candidate Hil-lary Clinton to promise price cuts.

For European healthcare companies, which Morgan Stanley estimates de-rive as much as 70% of their revenue from the US, that’s a problem they don’t need a time when the quest for new products is crimping their earn-ings as they spend more on research and acquisitions.

“It’s a very rough period for the sector,” said Pierre Mouton, a fund manager who helps oversee about $8.5bn at Notz, Stucki & Cie. in Ge-neva. “It’s clear now that apart from new medicines that can really im-prove the chance of success or heal-ing, it will be very diffi cult for phar-ma companies to increase prices.”

Novo Nordisk, which last year was one of the top-performing healthcare stocks in Europe, has be-come the biggest loser, down 39% in 2016 through the end of Octo-ber. The world’s largest insulin maker slashed its profi t-growth forecasts last

week, citing pricing pressure in the US, its largest market. Novartis, which posted a seventh quarter of earnings declines amid competition for ge-nerics, trades at its lowest price since April, while Roche Holding dropped to a three-year low.

At the same time, expectations for rising borrowing costs and eas-ing concerns over the economy have led fund managers to abandon the shares for banks and other econom-ically sensitive companies. A Bank of America Corp report last month showed that allocation to healthcare fi rms fell to a 10-month low.

“It’s a combination of Clinton, defensive-cyclical rotation and some disappointing quarterly results,” said Simon Wiersma, an investment manager at ING Bank in Amster-dam. His fi rm, which oversees about €26bn ($29bn), cut its rating on the sector to neutral from overweight in

September. “People bought these stocks in an environment of rates going down primarily because of higher dividends, and now we see the opposite when rates are going higher. This turnaround can last a while.”

As government-bond rates re-bounded from their August trough, the 3.3% dividend yield that Euro-pean drugmakers off er has begun losing some of its appeal. It’s now near the lowest since June relative to the average rate for the securities included in the Bloomberg Euro-zone Sovereign Bond Index.

While polls show Clinton will probably win against Donald Trump next week, the Republican Party still holds the most seats in the US Senate, and that may ham-per her eff orts to change pricing rules, according to Peter Sleep, a senior money manager at Seven In-vestment Management.

No oil cure seen for Russia as recession ends with a whimperBloombergMoscow

Russia’s worst recession this century may be over. Now what?

The economy’s prospects are so dim that the question of whether it fi nally exited a tech-nical recession – defi ned as at least two consecutive quarters of contraction – may be moot. Sea-sonally adjusted growth in third-quarter gross domestic product was estimated at close to zero by the central bank.

The Economy Ministry says GDP squeaked out a gain of 0.1% from the previous three months, ending a period of decline that the state development lender Vnesheconombank says lasted for eight quarters.

The fl atlining may be a sign of what’s to come: crude prices would need to soar more than 40% from now to $70 a barrel for economists to rethink their fore-casts for 2017 GDP and infl ation, according to 14 of 23 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Short of getting a jolt from oil, the options are limited.

Already running the widest budget defi cit in half a decade, the government can’t aff ord to raise budget spending, while the central bank has pledged to hold interest rates the rest of the year to meet its infl ation goal in 2017.

“The expectations over eco-nomic growth next year are rather modest,” said Ekaterina Vlasova, a former central bank offi cial who’s now an economist in Mos-cow at Citigroup, which also es-timates Russia is technically out of recession. “The process will be relatively lengthy and there’s no

reason to expect a repeat of the situation after the crises of 1998 or 2008, when the economy re-covered fast.”

The last two recessions set the stage for sharp rebounds as stronger oil prices and a surge in domestic demand and output helped make up lost ground. The economy is in a deeper hole this time after the worst oil crash in a generation as Opec struggles to tackle a global crude surplus.

“The economy is close to exit-ing the recession, but that isn’t a one-time event and will take some time,” said Oleg Kouzmin, chief economist for Russia at Renaissance Capital in Moscow.

Oil has declined since the Or-ganisation of Petroleum Export-ing Countries failed on Friday to agree on country quotas as part

of implementing the group’s agreement on cutting output. Russia will stick with verbal in-terventions to help aff ect the price of oil instead of actually cutting production in support of a possible deal by Opec, accord-ing to most economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The consensus among execu-tives, traders and offi cials gath-ered at the annual Oil & Money conference in London last month was that the world should get used to oil prices between $50 and $60. Citigroup sees prices rising to $65 next year, while trader Gunvor Group envisions an advance to as much as $70, levels last seen in 2014.

“While the recovery to $70 a barrel would equilibrate the federal budget and improve the

growth outlook, oil prices above $70 are likely to damage growth through the fast ruble apprecia-tion,” said Natalia Orlova, chief economist at Alfa Bank in Mos-cow. “The relationship between oil-price growth and GDP recov-ery is thus not a linear one.”

Russia’s central bank assumes the nation’s main export blend Urals will average $40 in 2017-2019, a level also used to calculate the budget. Under the govern-ment’s forecasts that project oil at $55 in 2019, growth may reach 4.4% that year.

Brent crude, which is used to price Urals, traded below $48 a barrel in London on Wednesday. The rouble is the second-best performer in emerging markets after Brazil’s real this year with a gain of almost 16% against the

dollar. “Slight” quarterly growth is expected in the last three months of the year, the central bank said in a statement on Friday after keeping its key interest rate unchanged at 10%. It estimates the economy contracted 0.4% to 0.6% from a year earlier last quarter, compared with a drop of 0.6% in the previous three months.

The economy is regaining bal-ance, with relatively low unem-ployment signaling the output gap isn’t large while the rate of capacity utilisation remains high, according to Bank of Russia First Deputy Governor Ksenia Yudae-va.

“We don’t see signs of a big cyclical contraction,” Yudaeva said in a lecture in Moscow on Wednesday. “On the contrary, we see that the economy is rather close to an equilibrium level and is gradually returning to it.”

GDP actually returned to con-traction in September, retreating an annual 0.7% from the previous month and losing 0.2% on a sea-sonally adjusted basis, the Econ-omy Ministry estimates.

“It’s too early to speak about stagnation being overcome,” Andrei Klepach, chief econo-mist at Vnesheconombank who previously served as the gov-ernment’s top forecaster at the Economy Ministry, said in a re-port. “Generally the economy continues to balance on a tra-jectory close to zero.”

Even so, growth is within reach. GDP will expand as much as 1% next year after a drop of 0.5% to 0.7% in 2016, the Bank of Russia predicts. A gauge tracking Russia’s manufacturing industry unexpectedly rose to a four-year high in October.

Now smart beta rebalancing begins to wag individual sharesBloombergNew York

When does low volatility equal high volatility? When indexes tied to a popular new investment

strategy are rearranged.That’s according to a study by Joop Huij

and Georgi Kyosev of Netherlands-based Robeco Group, which found that stocks ex-perience above-average volume and price swings in the run up to entering or leav-ing MSCI’s four main minimum-volatility indexes, which include a gauge tracked by a popular BlackRock exchange-traded fund. The study also found that about two-thirds of the price change lasts beyond re-balancing day.

Investors have long acknowledged vol-ume and price eff ects amid reconstitution of the biggest equity benchmarks as arbi-tragers and index managers, computer-driven or otherwise, buy shares that are going into the S&P 500 or Russell 1000. It’s contributed to chaotic trading days: vol-ume skyrocketed to a fi ve-year high when the annual rebalancing of FTSE Russell’s stock indexes immediately followed the

British vote to leave the European Union.With the soaring popularity of smart

beta - ETFs that use computer models to augment passive holdings - a similar eff ect is seeping into other corners of the mar-ket. As smart beta ETF assets have swelled by more than $26bn in 2016, analysts have gone searching for market eff ects related to the growing base of passive and computer-driven investors.

“Evidence suggests that after a stock is added to a factor index there is a new supply-demand equilibrium achieved,” the quantitative researchers wrote in their October 3 paper. “We fi nd a direct relation-ship between the magnitude of abnormal returns and the abnormal volume coming from index funds.”

From the announcement of the change to the stock’s actual addition, shares gain an extra 1.1%, about two-thirds of which are permanent, the study found. Of that, 0.6% occurs on the day before reconsti-tution, “showing that the eff ect is largely driven by the shift in demand caused by index funds,” according to Huij and Kyo-sev, who are also researchers at Rotterdam School of Management.

When a stock leaves the index, shares fall

0.9%, and about half of the losses are per-manent. Trading volume also picks up: it’s 30% higher than average when stocks were added to the factor index, according to the study, which was analyzed on the CXO Ad-visory Group website.

Amphenol Corp, an electronic cable-maker, gained 1.9% in the week it was added to the MSCI minimum volatility in-dex this year. In the same four days start-ing May 31, S&P 500 technology hardware companies fell 1%. JM Smucker Co was re-moved from the low-vol index on May 31, 2012. It fell 1% while the S&P 500 fell 0.2%.

Because they’re academics, Huij and Kyosev attempt to locate the phenomenon among fi ndings that depict wrinkles in the effi cient market hypothesis, which holds, among other things, that a stock’s riskiness is the only thing that matters to investors trying to price it. To them, additions and deletions to a low-volatility index repre-sent a kind of idealised laboratory for such inquiries, since unlike with the S&P 500, membership isn’t predicated on anything having to do with the company’s earnings or prospects.

The MSCI Minimum Volatility Index, for example, rearranges stocks in the MSCI

USA Index based on the Barra risk model to capture stocks with the least variance. Available information about a company’s economics doesn’t change, says this line of reasoning, so according to the effi cient market hypothesis neither should the share price.

“If markets are effi cient and demand curves for stocks are fl at, new additions to the index are not supposed to exhibit abnormally high returns,” Huij and Kyo-sev wrote . “We show that there is no link between factor index additions and dele-tions and improved earnings expectations. This allows us to attribute the documented abnormal returns to an exogenous shift in demand.”

The eff ect may only increase as smart-beta indexes grow in use, said Abhra Ban-erji, director of quantitative research at Evercore ISI. Smart-beta ETFs will attract an additional $25bn institutional assets by 2020, according to a study by Greenwich Associates.

“As factor ETFs gain in popularity, this becomes more of an extractable arbitrage event,” said Banerji. “If you believe there’s no detail too small, this is something you should be thinking about.”

Pedestrians pass the entrance to the headquarters of Russia’s central bank. Russia’s GDP will expand as much as 1% next year after a drop of 0.5% to 0.7% in 2016, according to the central bank estimation.

BUSINESS5Gulf Times

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Maersk third-quarter profit tumbles 44% to $429mn

Danish conglomerate AP Moller-Maersk said

yesterday that its third-quarter profit tumbled 44%

to $429mn (€387mn) as low fees pushed its world-

leading shipping service into loss.

However the company, which is in the midst of split-

ting off its oil and oil-related businesses, said profit

rebounded in these units.

Overall, the group’s sales contracted 9% to $9.2bn.

“The result is unsatisfactory, but driven by low

prices,” chief executive Soren Skou said in a state-

ment. He pointed to freight rates down by 16% from

last year, which pushed Maersk Line into is second

straight quarterly loss.

The net loss of $116mn compared to a profit of

$264mn in the July through September period last

year. The loss came despite the container industry

witnessing its first major bankruptcy in 30 years,

when the world’s seventh largest carrier, South

Korea’s Hanjin, filed for receivership in August.

Maersk Line experienced short-term increased

demand for its services in the transpacific trade as

a consequence, and freight rates increased by 5%

from the second quarter.

In the past, the group’s oil operations have helped

off set downturns in the shipping sector when oil

prices rose.

New York Times

The New York Times Co saw profits evaporate in

the third quarter due to one-time costs and a steep

drop in print advertising revenues, results showed

yesterday.

The prestigious US daily publisher reported a profit

of $406,000 — down 96% from the $9.4mn profit in

the same period a year ago. Overall revenues fell 1%

in the quarter to $363.5mn.

The company, struggling to transition to digital, said

online ad revenues grew 21.5% and now account for

more than 35% of its advertising receipts.

But that increase failed to off set an 18.5% drop

in print ad revenues — a situation faced by most

traditional newspaper publishers.

The Times added 129,000 paid digital-only

subscribers in the quarter, helping lift revenue for

that segment by around 3%. “This quarter proved

yet again that the New York Times has a very

compelling digital revenue story to tell,” said Mark

Thompson, president and chief executive off icer, in

a statement.

“We saw exceptional gains in our digital consumer

business...more than twice as many as the same

quarter last year and far more than any quarter

since the pay model launched in 2011.”

Thompson added that the company also faced “real

pressure on print advertising both for us and for the

rest of the industry.”

Kate Spade

Handbag and accessories maker Kate Spade &

Co posted lower-than-expected comparable store

sales, hurt by weak demand for its off -price prod-

ucts and as fewer tourists shopped at its stores.

Kate Spade’s same-store sales, including online

sales, rose 6.7% in the third quarter ended October1,

but missed the average analyst estimate of 7.4%

growth, according to research firm Consensus

Metrix.

The company’s gross margin declined as it spent

more on promotions to clear merchandise at

off -price stores and tested lower price-points for

certain products to attract customers.

Kate Spade said its gross margin fell 59.4% in the

quarter, compared with a growth of 61.2% in the

year-ago period, even though the company cut

costs.

Net income jumped to $29.6mn, or 23 cents per

share, in the third quarter ended October 1, from

$2.3mn, or 2 cents per share, a year earlier.

Allergan

Allergan reported quarterly earnings that fell far

short of analysts’ estimates, largely due to lower

demand for its drugs, Asacol and Namenda, and

the drugmaker slashed its full-year adjusted profit

forecast.

The company’s shares reversed course to be down

2% at $204 in early trading.

The shares were up in pre-market trading after

Allergan expanded its share buyback program and

set its first-ever quarterly dividend.

The company earned $3.32 per share, excluding

special items, in the third quarter ended September

30, widely missing the average analyst estimate of

$3.56, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The miss was driven by weaker-than-expected

sales, slightly lower gross margins and higher ex-

penses, Evercore ISI’s Umer Raff at wrote in a note.

Allergan said yesterday it expanded its share

buyback by $5bn to $15bn and also set its first-ever

quarterly dividend.

The Dublin-based drugmaker said it was initiating

a regular quarterly cash dividend of 70 cents per

share, beginning in the first quarter of 2017.

Allergan’s net revenue rose 4.4% to $3.62bn in

the third quarter, but missed the average analyst

estimate of $3.68bn.

Net loss from continuing operations, net of tax, nar-

rowed to $380.1mn, or $1.15 per share, from $875mn,

or $2.40 per share, a year earlier. The company

cut its adjusted full-year net revenue forecast for

continuing operations to $14.45bn-$14.65bn from

$14.65bn-$14.90bn.

Shaw Communications

Shaw Communications reported a smaller-than-

expected quarterly profit, largely due to costs

associated with the launch of its low-priced internet

service.

The company, which has sharpened its focus on

selling access to broadband data, rolled out its low-

cost WideOpen Internet 150 service in July to over

90% of its customers.

Shaw has transformed itself into a pure-play com-

munications company, purchasing the country’s

fourth-largest wireless company Wind Mobile in

late February and selling its media assets to Corus

Entertainment Inc

Revenue rose 15.5% to C$1.31bn ($980.3mn)in the

fourth quarter ended August 31, topping analysts’

average estimate of C$1.30bn.

The company’s net income fell 44% to C$154mn, or

31 Canadian cents per share.

Shaw recorded a C$158mn gain on the sale of wire-

less spectrum in the year-ago quarter.

Cameco

Canadian uranium producer Cameco Corp yes-

terday reported a better-than-expected quarterly

profit, largely helped by a jump in uranium sales

volumes.

Cameco’s uranium sales rose 35% to £9.3mn in

the third quarter ended September 30, while its

average realised uranium price fell 0.6% to $43.37

per pound. Chief Executive Tim Gitzel said though

uranium prices are at the lowest levels in more than

a decade, the company’s average realised prices

were well above the market price thanks to its

portfolio of long-term contracts.

However, Cameco warned that the uranium market

would remain depressed until Japan’s nuclear reac-

tors are restarted and excess supply is depleted,

among other things.

The 2011 Fukushima meltdown led to shutdowns

of all of Japan’s nuclear reactors, depressing the

radioactive metal’s price.

Anthem

Anthem reported a lower-than-expected quarterly

profit yesterday as costs rose in the No 2 US health

insurer’s individual business, including Obamacare

plans, as well as in the government’s Medicaid pro-

gram for the poor. Anthem, which is fighting a US

government lawsuit to block its acquisition of Cigna

Corp, said net income fell to $617.8mn, or $2.30 per

share, in the third quarter from $654.8mn, or $2.43

per share, a year earlier.

Excluding special items, the company earned $2.45

per share, below the analysts’ average estimate of

$2.47, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

“Anthem’s results narrowly missed Street expecta-

tions, but most investors should not be surprised

following recent company comments,” Oppenhe-

imer analyst Michael Wiederhorn said in a research

note. Anthem and other health insurers have said

they are losing money on the individual exchanges

because of the higher costs of members.

Maple Leaf

Canadian meat processor Maple Leaf Foods yes-

terday reported a 70.4% jump in quarterly profit as

lower costs and higher prices boosted earnings at

its prepared meats business.

Maple Leaf said adjusted operating earnings in its

meat products unit, the company’s primary source

of income, more than doubled to C$65.93mn

($49.35mn) in the third quarter ended September

30. The company’s net earnings rose to C$31.83mn,

or 23 Canadian cents per share, from C$18.68mn, or

13 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

Maple Leaf recently completed a program started

in 2010 to boost earnings by shutting some plants

and modernizing others.

On an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf earned 32 Canadi-

an cents per share, in line with the average analyst

estimate, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Bunge

US agricultural products trader Bunge’s quar-

terly profit missed analysts’ estimates, hurt by

smaller-than-expected harvests in South America,

where many of the company’s grain elevators and

processing plants are located.

Gross profit in Bunge’s agribusiness — which buys,

sells, stores, transports and processes grains and

oilseeds around the world — nearly halved in the

third quarter as adverse weather in South America

weighed on soybean and corn crop yields.

The agribusiness accounted for nearly 71% of the

company’s total net sales of $11.42bn.

In recent months, slow selling by farmers in Brazil

and Argentina has squeezed the company’s mar-

gins in South America.

Net income available to Bunge’s common share-

holders fell to $116mn, or 83 cents per share, in the

quarter ended September 30, from $229mn, or 1.56

per share, a year earlier. Adjusted profit per share

was 73 cents, missing the average analyst estimate

of 81 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Estee Lauder

Cosmetics maker Estee Lauder Cos reported a

better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by

strong demand for its makeup brands such as Tom

Ford and Smashbox, and lower expenses.

Excluding restructuring and other charges, the

company earned 84 cents per share, beating the

average analyst estimate of 80 cents per share,

according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net earnings attributable to the company fell to

$294mn, or 79 cents per share, in the first quarter

ended September 30, from $309mn, or 82 cents

per share, a year earlier. Net sales rose slightly to

$2.87bn from $2.84bn.

Hugo Boss

Shares in Hugo Boss rose nearly 7% yesterday

after it announced a recovery in sales in China and

higher cost savings as new boss Mark Langer sets

out to revive the struggling German fashion house.

Langer is returning Hugo Boss to its roots selling

smart men’s suits, reversing the course of his pred-

ecessor Claus-Dietrich Lahrs, who sought to make

the premium label more of a luxury brand and

invested heavily in promoting its womenswear.

Lahrs quit in February as Hugo Boss sales slumped

in the United States and China, prompting new

CEO Langer, the former finance chief, to announce

plans to cut costs by renegotiating rents, shutting

stores and shifting marketing spending back to the

menswear business.

Hugo Boss said third quarter sales in China rose

on a like-for-like basis. Net profit fell 9% to €81mn

($90mn) on sales down 6% to 703mn, compared to

analysts’ average forecasts for 76mn and 706mn

respectively.

CORPORATE RESULTS

LSE chief warnson risk to London’s euro businessReutersLondon

The European Union is considering a limit on processing euro-de-

nominated security transac-tions in the United States in a sign of what Britain might face after Brexit, London Stock Ex-change Group chief executive Xavier Rolet said yesterday.

Shortly after Britain voted in June to leave the EU, French President Francois Hollande said euro-denominated clear-ing of fi nancial instruments such as derivatives must move to the euro area from London, which dominates the activity.

Policymakers and bankers expect the European Central Bank to back this view.

Clearing, which is becoming mandatory for swathes of the multi tn market in derivatives, such as interest rate swaps used by companies to cover themselves against adverse moves in borrowing costs, ensures a trade is completed, even if one side goes bust.

It is seen as vital plumb-ing for building up a fi nancial centre. Rolet told a House of Lords committee that the loss of euro clearing — largely done at the LSE’s LCH clearing unit — would fragment markets and force banks to tie up an ex-tra €77bn ($85bn) in “margin” or cash to back trades, money that could otherwise aid eco-nomic growth.

Political pressure on cus-tomers to shift clearing from London could drive the activ-ity to the United States, Rolet said. “Which is why I under-stand that some discussions

have already originated in the EU for limiting the ability of US— based clearing houses to clear euro-denominated se-curities by capping or some-how restricting their ability to engage meaningfully in their business,” Rolet said.

LCH is a major clearing house for such transactions in the United States. Rolet said caps would not be consistent with the EU having already agreed that US clearing houses were “equivalent”, meaning they comply with rules that are as robust as those in the EU.

Maintaining regulatory equivalence between the EU and Britain after Brexit would be crucial for clearing in Lon-don for EU customers to con-tinue, Rolet added.

He urged the government to send “general messaging” to clearing customers in London that moving out now could be the wrong decision and that the EU too would benefi t from keep-ing market links with Britain.

Junior fi nance minister Si-mon Kirby told the same com-mittee last month that keeping euro clearing in London may not be a top priority for the government in Brexit talks.

Rolet reiterated that shift-ing clearing from London could cost 100,000 jobs, a fi gure that would shortly be endorsed by new research, and what customers do depends on “declarations” in Britain on whether this business is valu-able or not.

Currently customers benefi t from netting trades denomi-nated in diff erent currencies to save on how much regulatory capital they set aside in case of defaults, Rolet said.

Britain banking stocks shrug off Brexit in market-beating rallyBloombergLondon

The fortunes have reversed for UK bank shares a lit-tle more than four months

after Brexit spurred their worst slump since 2009.

A gauge tracking lenders in the FTSE 350 Index has rallied twice as much as the broader market since a June low following the referendum. Gains of about 40% or more in HSBC Holdings and Barclays, which get more than half their revenue outside the UK and account for about 70% of the lenders’ measure, have helped lift bank valuations from their lowest since 2009.

While global fi nanciers have warned that losing single-mar-ket access to the European Un-ion may put thousands of jobs and billions of pounds in revenue at risk, investors for now are fo-cused on the benefi ts of a weak sterling and better-than- fore-cast economic data.

Speculation of another rate cut by the Bank of England is waning, just as optimism grows the European Central Bank’s ac-tions will help improve profi t-ability at lenders.

“It’s time to reassess how negative to be on UK banks,” said Ken Odeluga, a market analyst at brokerage City Index in London.

“There are challenging times ahead, but the weak pound has absolutely been working out well for HSBC, while the better eco-nomic data has enabled banks exposed to the UK to defy expec-tations.”

The recent rally has pushed the valuation of members in the FTSE 350 Banks Index to 0.8 times the value of their assets,

near the highest since January, as a rebound in 10-year gilt yields eased worries about profi t mar-gins. Banks benefi t from a steep yield curve because they can borrow cheap, short-term cash and lend it out at higher, long-term rates.

Analysts project earnings at UK fi rms will rise at least 10% in each of the next two years, after

a slump of about 19% in 2016. Barclays last week reported a jump in bond-trading revenue that topped estimates, while Lloyds Banking Group rose af-ter saying it expects to maintain lending margins next year.

The two stocks make up about a third of the FTSE 350 Banks Index. HSBC, which has a 55% weighting on the gauge, releases

results on November 7. Barclays and HSBC rebounded 40% or more from the market low that followed the secession vote through Tuesday, while Lloyds rose 10%, though it still trades below its price before the refer-endum. Royal Bank of Scotland Group, up 7.1% since the June bottom, is the biggest laggard in the lenders’ index, which dropped 1.3% in London.

In the longer term, a so-called hard Brexit may put the coun-try’s lenders at risk of giving up passporting rights, which al-low fi nancial companies to sell services freely around the EU. Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to trigger negotiations to exit the bloc by March, and a minister in her government said last month lenders will probably lose those privileges.

Barclays is cutting 25% of its London offi ce space and said last week it’s evaluating options fol-lowing the vote.

That didn’t stop bulls from sending banks higher for a third month in four, helping them briefl y erase an annual drop that exceeded 25% as of June. With data on consumer confi dence and gross domestic product sig-nalling the economy is holding up, traders are pricing in a great-er chance of the BoE raising rates in the second half of 2017 than cutting them.

HSBC’s headquarters is seen London. Gains of about 40% or more in HSBC and Barclays have helped lift bank valuations from their lowest since 2009.

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Thursday, November 3, 20166

Sensex tumbles; rupee weakensBloombergMumbai

The BSE Sensex yesterday tumbled over 349 points to close at 27,527.22 on weakening global cues after the latest poll suggested that Republican candidate Donald Trump was slightly ahead of market favourite and his Democratic Party rival Hillary Clinton in the US Presidential polls.Also, the broader NSE Nifty broke below the 8,600-mark level to close at an over three-month lows. Investors are also waiting the US Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision.The 30-share index stayed in the negative terrain for the whole day and settled lower by 349.39 points, or 1.25% – its biggest single-day fall since October 13 – at 27,527.22. This is the weakest closing since October 17 when it had closed at 27,529.97. The gauge had lost 64.90 points in the past two sessions.The broader Nifty also succumbed to selling pressure and slipped below the 8,600-mark to hit a low of 8,504.85 before ending 112.25 points, or 1.30% down at 8,514, its lowest closing since 21 July.Oil and Natural Gas Corp was the top Sensex loser, skidding 4.10% to close at Rs277.35, followed by Tata Motors, which fell 3.19% to Rs514.Others that put pressure included SBI, Sun Pharma, RIL, Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddy’s, Cipla, TCS, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints and ICICI Bank, falling by up to 2.75%.Meanwhile the rupee weakened marginally against the US dollar tracking the losses in the local

equity markets.The rupee was trading at 66.79 against the US dollar, down 0.1% from its previous close of 66.74. The home currency opened at 66.80 against the US dollar. So far this year, it fell 0.97%.Traders are cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s statement at the completion of its two-day meeting and any new indication that an interest rate hike is likely at the central bank’s December meeting as the US holds its presidential election on November 8.On Tuesday, a new poll showed that 46% of likely voters support Trump compared to 45% for Clinton after the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was said to be planning to review more e-mails related to the Democratic presidential candidate’s private server.The benchmark 10-year government bond yield was trading at 6.82% – a level last seen on 29 September, compared to Tuesday’s close of 6.819%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have sold $811.10mn in debt and bought $6.76bn in equity till date this year.Asian currencies were trading mixed. Japanese yen was up 0.59%, Taiwan dollar 0.11%, China Renminbi 0.07%, Singapore dollar 0.05%. However, South Korean won was down 0.83%, Malaysian ringgit 0.34%, Indonesian rupiah 0.11%.The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.412, down 0.29% from its previous close of 97.699.

Asian markets extend global sell-off AFPHong Kong

Asian equities tumbled yesterday, extending a global sell-off , and the Mexican peso fell after a poll

showed Donald Trump overtaking mar-ket favourite Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House.

With Clinton until last week com-fortably ahead, traders were upbeat about her chances of winning on No-vember 8 but news on Friday that the FBI were again looking at her e-mails has raised the prospect of Trump be-coming president.

Trump is viewed as a wildcard, in part because of his harsh criticism of Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen and interna-tional trade pacts.

“Since the FBI reopened its case into Hillary Clinton’s e-mails last Friday, her substantial lead in the polls has been decimated and some now even show Trump in the lead,” Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at OANDA, said in a note.

“It’s been clear for some time now that markets would much prefer the stability that a Clinton victory would bring for the US economy and the reac-tion over the last 24 hours or so since the polls started to change so dramati-cally just confi rms this.

Trump risk is well and truly being priced in again.”

The news battered markets on Wall Street and in Europe, while the VIX vol-atility index, which is seen as a measure of the US market’s fears, was sitting near levels last seen after Britain voted in June to leave the EU.

Those losses fi ltered through to Asia, where Tokyo closed 1.8% lower, while Hong Kong dived 1.4% in late trade and Shanghai ended down 0.6%.

Sydney and Seoul each sank more than 1% and there were also sharp losses in Wellington, Manila and Taipei.

Currency traders also took fright, fl eeing into the safe-haven yen.

The greenback fell to ¥103.86 in To-kyo, down from ¥104.12 in New York and well off the levels of above ¥105 seen on Tuesday.

Analysts say a Trump win could also lead the Federal Reserve – which ends a policy meeting – to put off an expected December interest rate hike owing to

worries about his eff ect on the economy.“Even if the Fed does signal an incli-

nation to lift rates in December, markets will take the view that this is unlikely if a Trump victory leads to uncertainty and a surge in fi nancial-market volatil-ity,” Ric Spooner, chief market analyst in Sydney at CMC Markets, said in an e-mail to clients, according to Bloomberg News.

However, the dollar was sharply up at 19.32 Mexican pesos from 18.85 pesos on Tuesday.

The peso is considered a proxy for Trump’s chances owing to his anti-Mexican rhetoric throughout the cam-paign including his pledge to remove

undocumented migrants, build a wall and tear up a trade deal. The greenback also rallied against higher-yielding, risker Asia-Pacifi c units, soaring 0.9% against the South Korean won and 0.5% versus the Australian dollar.

A week-long retreat in oil prices also extended in Asia, with both contracts down almost a tenth from recent highs as investors grow worried about the chances of success for Opec’s Septem-ber agreement to cut output.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 down 1.8% at 17,134.68 points; Hong Kong – Hang Seng down 1.4% at 22,813.88 points and Shanghai – Composite down 0.6% at 3,012.73 points at the close yesterday.

Employees work at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Nikkei 225 closed down 1.8% to 17,134.68 points yesterday.

Emerging stocks slide most in three weeks as US race tightens

BloombergLondon

The Trump factor reverberated through emerging markets.Stocks headed for their biggest decline in almost three weeks, the Mexican peso led a selloff in currencies and the sovereign bond-yield spread widened relative to US Treasuries as investor appetite for riskier assets declined in the wake of polls showing Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton neck and neck in the US Election race. Polish and South Korean stocks fell the most since September. South Africa’s rand was one of the few gainers, rising to a five-week high as pressure mounted on President Jacob Zuma to resign. Sovereign bond-yield spread widened.Developing-nation equities and currencies both dropped for a second day as local issues amplified concern that Trump as president would scrap trade deals and penalise US companies that manufacture products overseas. All 11 industry groups declined as a Bloomberg tracking poll showed Clinton holding a slim advantage over Trump with independents a day after an ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll showed the Republican nominee one percentage point ahead of his Democrat rival.“Everyone is focusing on the US election because of yesterday’s poll,” said Patrick Mange, an emerging-market strategist at BNP Paribas Asset Management in Paris, who recommends buying stocks in Russia and China. “Investors are getting more risk-off after the outperformance of emerging markets earlier this year. Trump would be more detrimental for emerging markets because of all of his talk of protectionism.”The MSCI Emerging Markets Index of shares dropped 1.1% to 893.10 as of 10:06 a.m. in London, the lowest since October 17. The gauge has fallen about 3.7% from this year’s high in September.The Philippines benchmark index led losses yesterday, sliding 2.1%, while Poland’s fell 1.3%.South Korea’s Kospi index of shares slid for a fourth day after President Park Geun-hye replaced her prime minister and finance chief in a bid to shore up support from her core backers.Polish stocks fell the most since September after the Purchasing Managers Index missed estimates. The index released by Markit fell to lowest since September 2014 last month.Egyptian stocks rose 1.3%, the most among more than 90 indexes tracked by Bloomberg, heading for a 16-month high as the government delayed the introduction of a capital gains tax on equities for three years.The MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index dropped 0.1%. The Mexican peso weakened for a second day, losing 0.1%. The currency slumped 1.8% on Tuesday, the biggest decline in almost four months, as concern over a Trump victory increased after an ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll published Tuesday showed the Republican nominee one percentage point ahead of his Democrat rival. Markets in Brazil and Mexico were closed for a public holiday.The won dropped 0.8% after falling as much as 1.1% to the weakest since July 14. The Russian rouble weakened 0.3% and the yield on 10-year government notes rose to the highest since July on increased confidence as a policy maker said rates are now more in line with central bank policy.The premium investors demand to own emerging-market debt over US Treasuries widened three basis points to 347 basis points, increasing for a seventh day, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co indexes.

Australian currency surge may signal good times ahead for global economyBloombergSydney

To gauge whether the global economy is fi nally picking up, take a look at the per-

formance of the Australian dollar since the end of June.

Driven by rising local bond yields and commodity prices, the Aus-sie is the strongest major devel-oped currency over that period, and some analysts are forecasting further gains to an 18-month high. Goldman Sachs Group and Com-monwealth Bank of Australia say infl ation in the nation has bot-tomed, while traders are starting to speculate that policy makers are done with easing.

The world’s fifth-most traded currency climbed for a third day on Tuesday after the Reserve Bank of Australia left its benchmark interest rate unchanged and said consumer-price gains are likely to pick up.

Australia’s economy, the 12th largest globally, sits astride emerg-ing and developed markets, making the currency a favoured bellwether for worldwide growth. As the big-gest iron-ore exporter and a ma-jor supplier of coal, wool, gold and liquefi ed natural gas, the country’s fortunes are wedded to those of China.

But the South Pacifi c nation is about more than just raw materials – tourism and education are also major exports – and the Aussie is the highest-yielding AAA currency. That combination helped it lead a resurgence in developed markets in 2009 as the dust settled after the global fi nancial crisis.

“Australia remains exposed to China’s industrial cycle and the lat-ter is clearly tied to the fate of global growth,” said Vasileios Gkionakis, head of global foreign-exchange strategy at UniCredit in London, who was second in a Bloomberg’s ranking of Australian dollar fore-casters for the third quarter. “A turn- up in global infl ation would mean that higher-yielding curren-cies would benefi t on the back of higher yield spreads. So the likes of Aussie would be likely to experience increased demand.”

Right now, the Antipodean cur-rency is refl ecting a brightening outlook. Global bond yields surged in October, on speculation central banks were preparing to gradually scale back extraordinary stimulus measures, while market expecta-tions for consumer prices started to accelerate, albeit from low lev-

els. Aussie yields rose more than any nation with the top credit scores from all three ratings com-panies and only Italy and the UK outpaced them among developed economies.

The extra yield on Australia’s 10-year bonds over their US coun-terparts more than doubled from lows in August and the Australian dollar benefi ted from that rising premium.

The currency has jumped 2.4% since the end of June as the outlook for infl ation improved on a surge in commodity prices, and as traders trimmed bets the Reserve Bank of Australia would cut interest rates.

The Aussie rallied 28% in 2009 as the global economy recovered from the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings and the ensuing reces-sion. It has advanced 4.7% this

year, on course for its fi rst annual gain since 2012.

While its three-year slide helped the economy combat a decline in mining investment, an appreciat-ing exchange rate may complicate that process, the central bank said in Tuesday’s policy statement.

There are further reasons to be optimistic. For the fi rst time in six years, the price of Australian ex-ports has risen for three straight quarters, boosting national income and tax revenue.

A rally in energy prices is also supporting the outlook for growth in consumer prices. The 10-year infl ation swap and the break-even rate are both at six-month highs.

Traders are signalling the cur-rent record-low RBA cash rate may be the bottom of an easing cycle that began in late 2011. The market

implied probability for a reduction through the end of 2017 has fallen to 30% from almost 50% odds seen at the end of September.

The Aussie may appreciate to 80 US cents by the end of next year, according to UniCredit and ING Group, from 76.29 cents in London yesterday.

The median estimate of ana-lysts is for the currency to weaken to 74 US cents, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The currency has also drawn strength from rising prices of met-allurgical coal, which have tripled, and the 48% surge in iron ore in China this year, helping boost Aus-tralia’s terms of trade after more than two years of declines.

The economy will expand 2.9% this year, the fastest since 2012, and growth will remain at that

level through 2018, according to Bloomberg surveys of analysts. In-fl ation will accelerate in the next two years, while global growth will quicken to 3.2% in 2017 and 3.3% in 2018, from 2.9% this year, analysts project.

The RBA will release its quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy on Friday, with updated growth and infl ation forecasts.

“The Australian dollar can act as a barometer of global economic sentiment,” said Richard Grace, chief strategist at Commonwealth bank of Australia in Sydney. “The nation’s terms of trade, local eco-nomic conditions and Asian export growth go some way in pointing to the health of the global economy. Other factors such as the nation’s relative interest rates are also im-portant drivers for the currency.”

The Australian dollar has advanced 4.7% this year, on course for its fi rst annual gain since 2012

Zad Holding CoWidam Food CoVodafone Qatar

United Development CoSalam International Investme

Qatar & Oman Investment CoQatar Navigation

Qatar National Cement CoQatar National Bank

Qatar Islamic InsuranceQatar Industrial Manufactur

Qatar International IslamicQatari Investors Group

Qatar Islamic BankQatar Gas Transport(Nakilat)Qatar General Insurance & ReQatar German Co For Medical

Qatar Fuel QscQatar First Bank

Qatar Electricity & Water CoQatar Cinema & Film Distrib

Qatar Insurance CoOoredoo Qsc

National LeasingMazaya Qatar Real Estate Dev

Mesaieed Petrochemical HoldiAl Meera Consumer Goods Co

Medicare GroupMannai Corporation Qsc

Masraf Al RayanAl Khalij Commercial Bank

Industries QatarIslamic Holding Group

Gulf Warehousing CompanyGulf International Services

Ezdan Holding GroupDoha Insurance Co

Doha Bank QscDlala Holding

Commercial Bank QscBarwa Real Estate Co

Al Khaleej Takaful GroupAamal Co

Al Ahli Bank

77.60

62.90

10.40

19.50

11.00

10.16

89.00

82.50

160.00

50.00

42.40

63.60

55.20

102.60

22.35

44.90

9.90

141.70

9.79

210.20

28.05

86.70

95.00

14.30

12.20

15.75

167.50

55.60

77.50

34.05

17.90

101.90

55.00

52.90

29.20

15.85

18.30

35.75

21.80

36.20

29.80

21.40

13.15

40.05

0.00

-0.94

-0.76

-1.52

0.00

0.59

-1.11

0.61

-0.56

-2.91

-1.40

2.58

-7.23

-0.39

-2.40

-8.37

-1.00

-0.63

-0.10

0.05

0.00

-0.34

-0.73

-3.96

-0.97

-0.63

-6.27

-7.64

0.00

-0.58

1.02

-1.55

-5.82

-1.12

-2.01

-2.46

0.27

-0.69

-2.24

-0.69

-3.09

0.00

-2.59

0.00

-

239,553

531,232

45,437

74,634

12,321

7,907

14,241

127,388

10,939

5,345

18,125

93,546

15,406

288,544

247,925

14,282

5,088

139,856

25,239

-

37,456

60,686

225,610

46,643

85,035

41,138

750,086

50

270,958

17,747

67,020

28,579

32,939

217,074

372,173

300

297,508

91,375

106,888

897,555

-

22,326

-

QATAR

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

United Wire Factories CompanEtihad Etisalat Co

Dar Al Arkan Real Estate DevSaudi Hollandi Bank

Rabigh Refining And PetrocheBanque Saudi Fransi

Saudi Enaya Cooperative InsuMediterranean & Gulf Insuran

Saudi British BankMohammad Al Mojil Group Co

Red Sea Housing Services CoTakween Advanced Industries

Sabb TakafulSaudi Arabian Fertilizer Co

National GypsumSaudi Ceramic Co

National Gas & IndustrializaSaudi Pharmaceutical Industr

ThimarNational Industrialization C

Saudi Transport And InvestmeSaudi Electricity Co

Saudi Arabia Refineries CoArriyadh Development Company

Al-Baha Development & InvestSaudi Research And MarketingAldrees Petroleum And Transp

Saudi Vitrified Clay Pipe CoJarir Marketing Co

Arab National BankYanbu National Petrochemical

Arabian CementMiddle East Specialized Cabl

Al Khaleej Training And EducAl Sagr Co-Operative Insuran

Trade Union Cooperative InsuArabia Insurance Cooperative

Saudi Chemical CompanyFawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & C

Bupa Arabia For CooperativeWafa Insurance

Jabal Omar Development CoSaudi Basic Industries Corp

Saudi Kayan Petrochemical CoEtihad Atheeb Telecommunicat

Co For Cooperative InsuranceNational Petrochemical Co

Gulf Union Cooperative InsurGulf General Cooperative Ins

Basic Chemical IndustriesSaudi Steel Pipe Co

Buruj Cooperative InsuranceMouwasat Medical Services Co

Southern Province Cement CoMaadaniyah

Yamama Cement CoJazan Development Co

Zamil Industrial InvestmentAlujain Corporation (Alco)

Tabuk Agricultural DevelopmeUnited Co-Operative Assuranc

Qassim Cement/TheSaudi Advanced Industries

Kingdom Holding CoSaudi Arabian Amiantit Co

Al Jouf Agriculture DevelopmSaudi Industrial Development

Bishah AgricultureRiyad Bank

The National Agriculture DevHalwani Bros Co

Arabian Pipes CoEastern Province Cement Co

Al Qassim Agricultural CoFiling & Packing Materials M

Saudi Cable CoTihama Advertising & Public

Saudi Investment Bank/TheAstra Industrial Group

Saudi Public Transport CoTaiba Holding Co

Saudi Industrial Export CoSaudi Real Estate Co

Saudia Dairy & Foodstuff CoNational Shipping Co Of/The

Methanol Chemicals CoAce Arabia Cooperative Insur

Mobile Telecommunications CoSaudi Arabian Coop Ins Co

Axa Cooperative InsuranceAlsorayai Group

Weqaya For Takaful InsuranceBank Albilad

Al-Hassan G.I. Shaker CoWataniya Insurance Co

Abdullah Al Othaim MarketsHail Cement

19.75

18.76

4.92

9.59

8.94

22.34

12.77

18.06

18.49

12.55

22.90

10.64

20.20

63.47

9.47

23.55

25.50

30.50

21.37

13.46

44.83

18.09

23.15

18.25

13.50

18.64

29.96

55.61

90.27

16.11

44.19

38.30

6.20

14.86

30.43

11.34

9.06

28.71

22.39

120.65

12.72

62.65

83.55

6.59

3.04

85.53

15.99

8.73

11.92

31.09

13.73

16.42

128.80

57.02

17.08

17.01

8.55

21.17

13.69

8.72

11.30

49.20

8.30

10.32

5.55

28.17

7.70

69.75

9.99

18.87

50.75

13.61

23.18

7.40

27.49

4.84

25.67

10.60

12.69

11.80

33.56

24.85

16.68

115.55

33.95

5.43

32.86

7.15

13.45

12.14

7.53

19.39

17.16

13.63

19.00

82.75

9.64

-1.99

3.30

-2.38

-0.21

-3.66

0.45

2.16

-2.38

-0.32

0.00

-1.29

-3.27

-2.32

0.02

-2.47

-1.17

-0.78

1.23

-3.17

0.15

-2.67

-0.50

-1.87

0.22

0.00

-3.52

-2.12

-1.59

0.48

-0.31

-1.93

0.26

-2.82

-2.04

-4.04

-5.34

-0.88

-0.73

-2.44

0.32

-4.22

1.16

-1.11

1.07

-1.30

0.20

0.50

-1.36

-3.01

-0.03

0.22

-2.38

0.69

0.92

-1.39

0.06

-2.29

-0.70

-2.49

-1.25

-4.56

0.37

-2.81

-1.15

-0.89

-0.53

-0.52

0.00

0.40

-1.92

0.79

-1.66

0.74

-2.50

-3.00

-1.22

0.00

0.00

-2.23

-1.83

-0.42

-3.87

-0.42

-1.03

2.23

-2.16

-3.64

-2.46

-2.61

-3.11

-4.32

0.00

-0.64

1.26

-0.94

0.91

0.10

106,757

2,693,843

45,403,452

3,106,961

3,588,264

598,588

2,471,293

519,060

897,555

-

40,784

3,851,215

758,204

98,286

330,594

278,784

74,716

56,094

661,321

883,700

242,888

979,036

240,495

357,699

-

637,489

96,458

93,267

138,314

677,802

178,899

214,955

801,712

298,112

973,488

1,494,744

3,252,757

60,094

1,299,957

132,828

1,568,891

1,648,416

3,984,232

16,255,916

1,499,481

130,935

247,056

460,806

1,394,710

67,945

255,677

382,127

47,496

37,550

271,383

229,152

1,298,731

157,029

349,080

2,709,028

1,291,335

96,327

553,883

70,858

390,545

70,275

740,345

-

312,805

300,482

11,250

629,886

90,590

1,518,126

240,173

632,993

-

10,532,036

123,219

2,644,629

19,234

810,674

151,799

35,058

2,216,848

775,930

434,542

4,359,973

1,304,185

1,427,503

632,943

-

409,620

3,653,146

963,435

37,621

731,946

SAUDI ARABIA

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Saudi Re For Cooperative ReiSolidarity Saudi Takaful Co

Amana Cooperative InsuranceAlabdullatif Industrial Inv

Saudi Printing & Packaging CSanad Cooperative Insurance

Saudi Paper Manufacturing CoAlinma Bank

Almarai CoFalcom Saudi Equity Etf

United International TranspoHsbc Amanah Saudi 20 Etf

Saudi International PetrocheFalcom Petrochemical Etf

Saudi United Cooperative InsBank Al-Jazira

Al Rajhi BankSamba Financial Group

United Electronics CoAllied Cooperative Insurance

Malath Cooperative & ReinsurAlinma Tokio Marine

Arabian Shield CooperativeSavola

Wafrah For Industry And DeveFitaihi Holding Group

Tourism Enterprise Co/ ShamsSahara Petrochemical Co

Herfy Food Services Co

4.89

7.00

7.39

11.98

11.65

15.23

7.55

13.64

58.37

23.80

24.33

24.80

13.00

22.20

16.30

11.64

57.24

19.57

16.84

12.44

7.40

14.89

21.33

30.95

15.60

10.83

22.23

9.74

67.00

-2.40

-0.57

-0.81

-1.64

-2.51

0.00

-2.58

1.11

0.60

-0.42

-1.30

0.00

-0.38

0.00

-1.27

-0.77

0.69

0.88

-1.69

-3.72

-3.77

-1.19

-2.25

-0.83

-2.56

-1.81

-3.85

-2.11

-0.74

908,761

3,631,616

2,709,252

603,501

1,012,168

-

1,277,048

33,310,536

213,382

62,332

241,622

-

1,173,781

15

449,342

2,586,909

2,269,744

1,848,122

318,602

476,177

1,592,271

1,799,263

74,318

161,834

561,257

205,236

610,930

5,122,862

18,857

SAUDI ARABIA

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Securities Group CoSultan Center Food Products

Kuwait Foundry Co SakKuwait Financial Centre Sak

Ajial Real Estate EntmtGulf Glass Manuf Co -Kscc

Kuwait Finance & InvestmentNational Industries Co Ksc

Kuwait Real Estate Holding CSecurities House/The

Boubyan Petrochemicals CoAl Ahli Bank Of Kuwait

Ahli United Bank (Almutahed)National Bank Of Kuwait

Commercial Bank Of KuwaitKuwait International Bank

Gulf BankAl-Massaleh Real Estate Co

Al Arabiya Real Estate CoKuwait Remal Real Estate Co

Alkout Industrial Projects CA’ayan Real Estate Co Sak

Investors Holding Group Co.KAl-Mazaya Holding Co

Al-Madar Finance & Invt CoGulf Petroleum Investment

Mabanee Co SakcCity Group

Inovest Co BscKuwait Gypsum Manufacturing

Al-Deera Holding CoAlshamel International Hold

Mena Real Estate CoNational Slaughter House

Amar Finance & Leasing CoUnited Projects For Aviation

National Consumer Holding CoAmwal International Investme

Jeeran HoldingsEquipment Holding Co K.S.C.C

Nafais HoldingSafwan Trading & Contracting

Arkan Al Kuwait Real EstateGfh Financial Group Bsc

Energy House Holding Co KscpKuwait Slaughter House Co

Kuwait Co For Process PlantAl Maidan Dental Clinic Co K

National Ranges CompanyAl-Themar Real International

Al-Ahleia Insurance Co SakpWethaq Takaful Insurance Co

Salbookh Trading Co KscpAqar Real Estate Investments

Hayat CommunicationsKuwait Packing Materials Mfg

Soor Fuel Marketing Co KscAlargan International RealBurgan Co For Well Drilling

Kuwait Resorts Co KsccOula Fuel Marketing Co

Palms Agro Production CoIkarus Petroleum Industries

Mubarrad Transport CoAl Mowasat Health Care Co

Shuaiba Industrial CoHits Telecom Holding

First Takaful Insurance CoKuwaiti Syrian Holding Co

National Cleaning CompanyEyas For High & Technical EdUnited Real Estate Company

AgilityKuwait & Middle East Fin Inv

Fujairah Cement IndustriesLivestock Transport & Tradng

International Resorts CoNational Industries Grp Hold

Marine Services Co KscWarba Insurance Co

Kuwait United Poultry CoFirst Dubai Real Estate Deve

Al Arabi Group Holding CoKuwait Hotels Sak

Mobile Telecommunications CoAl Safat Real Estate Co

Tamdeen Real Estate Co KscAl Mudon Intl Real Estate Co

Kuwait Cement Co KscSharjah Cement & Indus Devel

Kuwait Portland Cement CoEducational Holding Group

Bahrain Kuwait InsuranceAsiya Capital Investments Co

Kuwait Investment CoBurgan Bank

Kuwait Projects Co HoldingsAl Madina For Finance And In

Kuwait Insurance CoAl Masaken Intl Real Estate

Intl Financial AdvisorsFirst Investment Co Kscc

Al Mal Investment CompanyBayan Investment Co Kscc

Egypt Kuwait Holding Co SaeCoast Investment Development

Privatization Holding CompanKuwait Medical Services Co

Injazzat Real State CompanyKuwait Cable Vision Sak

Sanam Real Estate Co KsccIthmaar Bank Bsc

Aviation Lease And Finance CArzan Financial Group For Fi

Ajwan Gulf Real Estate CoKuwait Business Town Real Es

Future Kid Entertainment AndSpecialities Group Holding C

Abyaar Real Eastate DevelopmDar Al Thuraya Real Estate C

Al-Dar National Real EstateKgl Logistics Company Kscc

Combined Group ContractingZima Holding Co Ksc

Qurain Holding Co

85.00

57.00

168.00

81.00

152.00

300.00

35.00

196.00

21.00

39.50

465.00

315.00

390.00

600.00

400.00

192.00

232.00

35.50

27.00

50.00

0.00

60.00

20.50

114.00

0.00

38.00

810.00

0.00

60.00

0.00

33.50

0.00

19.00

0.00

64.00

680.00

50.00

19.50

62.00

45.50

180.00

390.00

80.00

102.00

40.50

138.00

160.00

0.00

29.00

89.00

450.00

26.50

55.00

0.00

51.00

0.00

112.00

152.00

86.00

73.00

116.00

90.00

29.50

51.00

210.00

250.00

36.00

48.00

28.00

38.00

0.00

97.00

480.00

22.50

78.00

236.00

25.00

116.00

87.00

108.00

176.00

52.00

51.00

0.00

390.00

0.00

500.00

28.00

375.00

80.00

920.00

0.00

0.00

30.50

84.00

320.00

500.00

43.00

230.00

40.00

29.00

44.50

20.50

30.50

0.00

40.00

0.00

0.00

68.00

61.00

29.00

32.50

216.00

30.50

41.50

39.50

106.00

86.00

19.50

0.00

0.00

76.00

650.00

45.50

0.00

0.00

1.79

0.00

1.25

1.33

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

2.20

0.00

0.00

1.69

1.27

1.05

0.00

-6.58

-1.82

0.00

0.00

1.69

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.52

0.00

-5.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.25

-1.43

-5.88

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.92

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-3.45

-5.00

0.00

0.00

3.57

0.00

-1.67

-1.92

5.00

0.00

-2.70

2.13

-1.75

0.00

0.00

-1.02

1.05

4.65

0.00

0.00

-5.66

1.75

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

2.00

0.00

-1.27

0.00

0.00

-1.75

0.00

0.00

-1.08

0.00

0.00

-4.69

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.18

0.00

2.56

1.75

0.00

2.50

0.00

0.00

-1.23

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-3.33

1.56

0.00

1.67

0.00

0.00

0.00

2.38

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.30

0.00

-5.21

0.00

4,435

20,000

397,347

136,360

55,000

1,000

5,000

19,000

100,000

197,000

69,317

6,000

68

1,859,960

5

395,000

23,378

15,180

305,000

10,679,100

-

134,137

1,943,117

104,700

-

1,524,206

565,602

-

30,050

-

250,976

-

5,000

-

38

906

5

206,000

29,600

313,490

118,000

40,000

4,540

551,200

17,500

2,000

5,000

-

879,883

100

27,556

186,790

71,690

-

97,000

-

7,772

200

31

980

38,000

7,447

9,539

118,974

2,330

6,117

1,403,134

1,000

893,588

81,900

-

21,422

655,885

100,000

1,250

127

102,500

6,208,509

44,010

5,898

20,546

1,596,751

100,700

-

2,178,277

-

1,000

12,132,787

698

1,000

17,737

-

-

79,470

1,320

600,459

269,808

2,708,789

500

156,118

236,848

226,600

4,121,100

512,888

-

1,928,636

-

-

80,000

293

1,500

1,378,800

707,885

80,120

11,100

1,898,109

7,500

4,740

666,000

-

-

83,000

500

6,149,153

-

KUWAIT

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Voltamp Energy SaogUnited Power/Energy Co- Pref

United Power Co SaogUnited Finance Co

Ubar Hotels & ResortsTakaful Oman

Taageer FinanceSweets Of OmanSohar Power Co

Sohar PoultrySmn Power Holding Saog

Shell Oman Marketing - PrefShell Oman Marketing

Sharqiyah Desalination Co SaSembcorp Salalah Power & Wat

Salalah Port ServicesSalalah Mills Co

Salalah Beach Resort SaogSahara Hospitality

Renaissance Services SaogRaysut Cement Co

Port Service CorporationPhoenix Power Co Saoc

Packaging Co LtdOoredoo

OminvestOman United Insurance Co

Oman Textile Holding Co SaogOman Telecommunications Co

Oman Refreshment CoOman Packaging

Oman Orix Leasing Co.Oman Oil Marketing Company

Oman National Engineering AnOman Investment & Finance

Oman Intl MarketingOman Hotels & Tourism CoOman Foods International

Oman Flour MillsOman Fisheries CoOman Fiber Optics

Oman Europe Foods IndustriesOman Education & Training In

Oman ChromiteOman Chlorine

Oman Ceramic ComOman Cement Co

Oman Cables IndustryOman Agricultural Dev

Oman & Emirates Inv(Om)50%Natl Aluminium Products

National SecuritiesNational Real Estate Develop

National PharmaceuticalNational Mineral Water

National Hospitality InstituNational Gas Co

National Finance CoNational Detergent Co Saog

National Biscuit IndustriesNational Bank Of Oman Saog

Muscat Thread Mills CoMuscat National Holding

Muscat Gases Company SaogMuscat Finance

Majan Glass CompanyMajan College

Hsbc Bank OmanHotels Management Co Interna

Gulf StoneGulf Plastic Industries Co

Gulf Mushroom CompanyGulf Investments Services

Gulf Invest. Serv. Pref-SharGulf International Chemicals

Gulf Hotels (Oman) Co LtdGlobal Fin Investment

Galfar Engineering&ContractGalfar Engineering -Prefer

Financial Services Co.Financial Corp/The

Dhofar UniversityDhofar Tourism

Dhofar PoultryDhofar Intl Development

Dhofar InsuranceDhofar Fisheries & Food Indu

Dhofar Cattlefeed

0.45

1.00

3.40

0.16

0.13

0.16

0.11

1.34

0.26

0.21

0.71

1.05

1.95

4.50

0.25

0.65

1.48

1.38

2.50

0.22

1.53

0.24

0.14

2.01

0.63

0.48

0.29

0.32

1.47

2.15

0.30

0.12

1.88

0.15

0.18

0.52

0.40

0.00

0.66

0.06

4.57

1.00

0.15

3.64

0.49

0.40

0.45

1.51

0.00

0.12

0.19

0.17

5.00

0.11

0.05

0.00

0.62

0.13

0.70

3.75

0.23

0.11

1.79

0.62

0.12

0.19

0.52

0.11

1.25

0.11

0.00

0.34

0.10

0.11

0.26

10.50

0.18

0.09

0.39

0.17

0.11

1.49

0.49

0.18

0.39

0.21

1.28

0.22

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.63

1.85

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.27

0.00

0.00

-0.63

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.34

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.72

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.36

0.00

0.00

-0.80

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.56

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1,000

-

-

-

-

44,000

39,000

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

4,240

30,953

20,897

759,324

-

228,747

-

225,235

-

187,490

20

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

120,688

214,150

-

-

6,000

-

-

-

145,923

-

-

410,000

-

-

-

-

-

-

55,221

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1,429,950

-

-

-

-

11,000

-

-

-

12,000

793,646

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

4,585

OMAN

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Dhofar Beverages CoConstruction Materials Ind

Computer Stationery IndsBankmuscat Saog

Bank SoharBank Nizwa

Bank Dhofar SaogAreej Vegetable Oils

Aloula CoAl-Omaniya Financial Service

Al-Hassan Engineering CoAl-Fajar Al-Alamia Co

Al-Anwar Ceramic Tiles CoAl Suwadi Power

Al Shurooq Inv SerAl Sharqiya Invest Holding

Al Maha Petroleum Products MAl Maha Ceramics Co SaocAl Madina Takaful Co Saoc

Al Madina Investment CoAl Kamil Power Co

Al Jazerah Services -PfdAl Jazeera Steel Products Co

Al Jazeera ServicesAl Izz Islamic Bank

Al Buraimi HotelAl Batinah PowerAl Batinah Hotels

Al Batinah Dev & InvAl Anwar Holdings Saog

Ahli BankAcwa Power Barka Saog

Abrasives Manufacturing Co SA’saff a Foods Saog

0Man Oil Marketing Co-Pref

0.26

0.03

0.26

0.42

0.14

0.08

0.22

4.05

0.53

0.28

0.05

0.75

0.16

0.19

1.04

0.11

1.44

0.49

0.07

0.05

0.31

0.55

0.23

0.17

0.07

0.88

0.19

1.13

0.09

0.16

0.18

0.71

0.05

0.85

0.25

0.00

-3.33

0.00

0.48

0.00

0.00

-0.91

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.31

1.05

0.00

-1.75

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

2.23

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.05

0.00

0.00

-1.21

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-

68,700

-

134,453

290,000

357,332

210,742

2,761

-

-

-

-

5,004

54,663

-

534,405

-

150,000

64,900

315,699

-

-

290,310

-

203,800

-

77,608

-

-

66,000

60,000

-

-

-

-

OMAN

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Waha Capital PjscUnited Insurance Company

United Arab Bank PjscUnion National Bank/Abu Dhab

Union Insurance CoUnion Cement Co

Umm Al Qaiwain Cement IndustSharjah Islamic Bank

Sharjah Insurance CompanySharjah Group

Sharjah Cement & Indus DevelRas Al-Khaimah National Insu

Ras Al Khaimah White CementRas Al Khaimah Ceramics

Ras Al Khaimah Cement Co PscRas Al Khaima Poultry

Rak PropertiesOoredoo Qsc

Oman & Emirates Inv(Emir)50%Nbad Oneshare Msci Uae Ucits

National Takaful CompanyNational Marine Dredging Co

National Investor Co/TheNational Corp Tourism & Hote

National Bank Of Umm Al QaiwNational Bank Of Ras Al-Khai

National Bank Of FujairahNational Bank Of Abu Dhabi

Methaq Takaful InsuranceManazel Real Estate Pjsc

Invest BankIntl Fish Farming Co Pjsc

Insurance HouseGulf Pharmaceutical Ind Psc

Gulf Medical ProjectsGulf Cement Co

Fujairah Cement IndustriesFujairah Building Industries

Foodco Holding PjscFirst Gulf BankFinance House

Eshraq Properties Co PjscEmirates Telecom Group Co

Emirates Insurance Co. (Psc)Emirates Driving Company

Dana GasCommercial Bank Internationa

Bank Of SharjahAxa Green Crescent Insurance

Arkan Building Materials CoAlkhaleej InvestmentAldar Properties Pjsc

Al Wathba National InsuranceAl Khazna Insurance Co

Al Fujairah National InsuranAl Dhafra Insurance Co. P.S.

Al Buhaira National InsurancAl Ain Ahlia Ins. Co.

Agthia Group PjscAbu Dhabi Ship Building Co

Abu Dhabi Natl Co For BuildiAbu Dhabi National Takaful C

Abu Dhabi National InsuranceAbu Dhabi National Hotels

Abu Dhabi National Energy CoAbu Dhabi Islamic Bank

1.85

2.00

1.90

3.90

1.43

1.07

0.90

1.50

3.85

1.50

0.93

4.10

1.11

2.66

0.74

2.52

0.62

95.00

1.18

6.26

0.98

4.70

0.52

3.29

3.00

5.06

4.78

8.78

0.77

0.47

2.20

1.69

0.75

2.16

2.50

0.96

0.88

1.56

4.60

11.40

1.78

0.79

18.50

5.80

6.44

0.53

1.99

1.35

0.72

1.01

1.47

2.62

4.40

0.36

300.00

5.00

2.35

60.00

6.00

3.00

0.58

4.25

2.45

3.20

0.58

3.50

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.51

0.00

0.00

0.00

2.74

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.48

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

7.14

-0.59

0.00

-1.35

-4.94

-4.08

0.00

10.46

0.00

-1.82

0.00

0.00

2.33

0.00

0.00

-1.30

0.00

-3.66

-1.60

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.98

0.00

-2.24

0.00

-5.26

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

6.25

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.86

1,330,137

-

-

175,226

-

-

-

411,076

-

-

-

-

-

7,120

-

-

6,265,651

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

50,000

3,359

-

121,259

1,472,964

665,968

1,519,525

1,000

-

177,478

-

-

145,475

-

-

2,732,198

-

74,310,673

2,645,075

-

-

4,244,056

-

-

-

138,368

-

5,206,227

-

39,285

-

-

-

-

221,604

-

-

1,559

-

-

1,038,033

135,470

UAE

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Zain Bahrain BsccUnited Paper Industries Bsc

United Gulf Investment CorpUnited Gulf BankTrafco Group Bsc

Takaful International CoTaib Bank -$Us

Seef PropertiesSecurities & Investment Co

National Hotels CoNational Bank Of Bahrain Bsc

Nass Corp BscKhaleeji Commercial Bank

Ithmaar Bank BscInvestcorp Bank -$Us

Inovest Co BscGulf Monetary Group

Gulf Hotel Group B.S.CGfh Financial Group Bsc

Esterad Investment Co B.S.C.Delmon Poultry Co

Bmmi BscBmb Investment Bank

Bbk BscBankmuscat Saog

Banader Hotels CoBahrain Tourism CoBahrain Telecom Co

Bahrain Ship Repair & EnginBahrain National Holding

Bahrain Kuwait InsuranceBahrain Islamic Bank

Bahrain Flour Mills CoBahrain Family Leisure Co

Bahrain Duty Free ComplexBahrain Commercial Facilitie

Bahrain Cinema CoBahrain Car Park Co

Arab Insurance Group(Bsc)-$Arab Banking Corp Bsc-$Us

Aluminium Bahrain BscAlbaraka Banking Group

Al-Salam BankAl-Ahlia Insurance Co

Ahli United Bank B.S.C

0.11

0.00

0.00

0.38

0.24

0.00

0.00

0.20

0.00

0.00

0.69

0.11

0.06

0.10

8.10

0.00

0.00

0.63

0.32

0.00

0.00

0.83

0.03

0.35

0.00

0.00

`

0.29

1.61

0.42

0.00

0.12

0.39

0.09

0.75

0.66

1.29

0.00

0.32

0.34

0.31

0.48

0.09

0.26

0.64

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.85

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

2.91

0.00

-9.52

0.00

0.00

0.00

-2.34

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.60

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.03

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.77

0.00

1.59

0.00

-0.65

0.00

-5.56

0.00

0.00

25,000

-

-

4,000

301,171

-

-

74,872

-

-

22,238

211,418

30,000

700,000

65,100

-

-

64,242

29,400

-

-

389,401

200,000

61,500

-

-

-

947,662

2,532

4,760

-

18,138

23,562

350,000

7,000

70,000

984,598

-

35,931

15,000

37,980

34,000

624,941

36,709

8,828,844

BAHRAIN

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Boubyan Intl Industries HoldGulf Investment House Ksc

Boubyan Bank K.S.CAhli United Bank B.S.C

Osos Holding Group CoAl-Eid Food Ksc

Qurain Petrochemical IndustrAdvanced Technology Co

Ekttitab Holding Co SakKout Food Group Ksc

Real Estate Trade Centers CoAcico Industries Co Kscc

Kipco Asset Management CoNational Petroleum ServicesAlimtiaz Investment Co Kscc

Ras Al Khaimah White CementKuwait Reinsurance Co Ksc

Kuwait & Gulf Link TransportHuman Soft Holding Co Ksc

Automated Systems Co KsccMetal & Recycling Co

Gulf Franchising Holding CoAl-Enma’a Real Estate Co

National Mobile TelecommuniAl Bareeq Holding Co Kscc

Housing Finance Co SakAl Salam Group Holding Co

United Foodstuff IndustriesAl Aman Investment Company

Mashaer Holdings Co KscManazel Holding

Mushrif Trading & ContractinTijara And Real Estate Inves

Kuwait Building MaterialsJazeera Airways Co Ksc

Commercial Real Estate CoFuture Communications Co

National International CoTaameer Real Estate Invest C

Gulf Cement CoHeavy Engineering And Ship B

Refrigeration Industries & SNational Real Estate Co

Al Safat Energy Holding CompKuwait National Cinema CoDanah Alsafat Foodstuff Co

Independent Petroleum GroupKuwait Real Estate Co Ksc

Salhia Real Estate Co KscGulf Cable & Electrical IndAl Nawadi Holding Co Ksc

Kuwait Finance HouseGulf North Africa Holding Co

Hilal Cement CoOsoul Investment Kscc

Gulf Insurance Group KscKuwait Food Co (Americana)

Umm Al Qaiwain Cement IndustAayan Leasing & Investment

Alrai Media Group Co KscNational Investments CoCommercial Facilities Co

Taiba Kuwaiti Holding Co KscAfaq Educational Services Co

Strategia Investment Co KscYiaco Medical Co. K.S.C.C

20.50

24.50

385.00

192.00

0.00

0.00

204.00

920.00

36.50

0.00

34.00

290.00

114.00

780.00

74.00

93.00

184.00

47.50

1,660.00

0.00

66.00

31.50

39.00

1,100.00

0.00

56.00

42.50

170.00

45.00

0.00

27.50

54.00

39.00

0.00

830.00

79.00

96.00

62.00

19.00

75.00

158.00

320.00

82.00

29.50

950.00

88.00

370.00

49.50

370.00

380.00

0.00

485.00

31.50

0.00

41.50

630.00

2,620.00

0.00

28.00

134.00

108.00

166.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

198.00

-4.65

0.00

1.32

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

3.33

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.85

0.00

7.69

2.41

0.00

-4.26

0.00

-1.79

-1.82

0.00

0.00

-2.35

0.00

0.00

8.77

-5.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-3.28

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.00

0.00

-1.30

0.00

2.11

-1.56

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.19

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

5,133,141

26,323

511,729

250,000

-

-

370,287

100

383,241

-

1,992

2,000

10

1,888

298,109

2,000

75,000

78,520

1,240

-

20,000

500

1,455,704

6,906

-

9,498,219

5,675,451

10

29,883

-

281,000

2,201

356,482

-

16,000

3,029

5,000

1,904,355

84,000

400

94,924

5,617

826,700

117,912

600

136,130

515

170,113

11,000

151,586

-

6,987,991

381,500

-

81,141

62,115

93,338

-

508,000

105,967

498,840

3,400

-

-

-

100

KUWAIT

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

LATEST MARKET CLOSING FIGURES

BUSINESS7Gulf Times

Thursday, November 3, 2016

CURRENCIESDOLLAR QATAR RIYAL SAUDI RIYAL UAE DIRHAMS BAHRAINI

DINARKUWAITI

DINAR

European markets shudder onprospect of Trump presidencyAFPLondon

Stock markets spiralled down-wards yesterday around the globe as investors fretted over growing

fears of a Donald Trump presidency.Asian equities sank and the Mexican

peso fell after a poll Tuesday showed Trump overtaking market favour-ite Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House.

“This is what happens when politics trumps economics,” City Index analyst Kathleen Brooks told AFP.

“We saw volatility rise yester-day, which was bad news for stocks. Trump’s comeback is a lightning rod for volatility.

“Along with rising bond yields we could have the perfect storm for equi-ties. If we do not see Clinton win this election, get your hard hats ready.”

European stocks followed suit with another raft of losses yesterday, as in-vestors became more risk-averse be-fore the November 8 vote.

London closed down 1% at 6,845.42 points, with Paris losing 1.2% at 4,414.67 and Frankfurt dropping 1.5% at 10.370.93.

Wall Street also edged lower, with the Dow down 0.1% in midday trad-

ing, as investors there were awaiting the end of the latest monetary policy meeting at the US Federal Reserve.

The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates low, but the US central bank may use the occasion to put the public on notice to expect a rate hike in December – though that is far from guaranteed.

“Equity markets are suff ering from elevated fears that Trump might actu-ally make it all the way to the Oval Of-fi ce,” added Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo markets.

“While the probability of a Clinton win still remains pretty high, polls are tighter than ever, Trump even leading in some cases, while a Brexit surprise is far too fresh in market memories for the possibility to be discounted en-tirely.”

World markets have been on a roll-ercoaster ride since last Friday, when the FBI stunned investors with news that it was investigating additional emails connected to Democrat Clin-ton.

Trump is mostly viewed by Wall Street as a wildcard, in part because of his harsh criticism of Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen and international trade pacts.

The Republican was buoyed Tues-day by a national poll that showed him

sneaking a narrow lead in national vot-ing intentions, sending New York slid-ing.

The declines sent leading equity indices to their lowest level since just after Britain’s shock vote to exit the European Union in June.

“But at the same time equity bench-marks are only modestly down, show-ing an overriding comfort in owning stocks,” said CMC markets analyst Jas-per Lawler, noting that the FTSE 100 and S&P 500 are only down about 2%-3% over the past week.

An ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll showed Trump leading Clinton 46-45%, with news of a re-newed FBI probe apparently devouring the Democrat’s long-held lead.

Some analysts say a Trump win could also lead the Federal Reserve – which ends a policy meeting late yes-terday – to put off an expected Decem-ber interest rate hike owing to worries about his eff ect on the economy.

The greenback was meanwhile sharply up at 19.32 Mexican pesos per dollar, from 18.85 late on Tuesday.

The peso is considered a proxy for Trump’s chances given his anti-Mexi-can rhetoric throughout the campaign, including his pledge to remove un-documented migrants, build a wall and tear up a trade deal.

Traders at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The DAX 30 dropped 1.5% to 10.370.93 points yesterday as investors became more risk-averse before the November 8 US vote.

Apple IncMicrosoft Corp

Exxon Mobil CorpJohnson & JohnsonGeneral Electric Co

Jpmorgan Chase & CoProcter & Gamble Co/The

Wal-Mart Stores IncVerizon Communications Inc

Pfizer IncVisa Inc-Class A Shares

Chevron CorpCoca-Cola Co/The

Intel CorpMerck & Co. Inc.

Cisco Systems IncHome Depot Inc

Intl Business Machines CorpWalt Disney Co/The

Unitedhealth Group Inc3M Co

Mcdonald’s CorpNike Inc -Cl B

United Technologies CorpBoeing Co/The

Goldman Sachs Group IncAmerican Express Co

Du Pont (E.I.) De NemoursCaterpillar Inc

Travelers Cos Inc/The

111.96

59.71

83.59

115.23

28.60

68.43

86.93

69.60

47.07

30.68

80.93

105.23

42.08

34.80

59.00

30.53

120.80

152.70

92.35

140.62

165.09

112.34

49.90

102.09

142.00

176.86

65.74

68.25

81.32

105.85

0.42

-0.16

-0.07

-0.10

-0.99

-0.78

0.09

0.43

-1.25

-1.27

-0.85

-1.17

-0.11

0.80

-0.51

0.15

0.76

-0.06

-0.05

0.85

0.51

0.08

0.56

0.08

-0.29

-0.67

-0.77

-0.28

-1.12

-0.37

12,193,329

7,206,620

4,541,501

2,281,123

10,124,761

4,944,394

2,914,744

2,863,072

7,600,227

14,268,305

3,408,521

3,507,343

4,311,474

8,340,961

3,509,046

6,370,642

2,132,179

1,000,532

2,238,555

1,161,778

882,420

1,390,237

5,360,292

1,178,040

843,397

701,254

1,222,528

1,143,594

1,847,966

441,725

DJIA

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Wpp plcWorldpay group plc

Wolseley plcWm morrison supermarkets

Whitbread plcVodafone group plc

United utilities group plcUnilever plc

Tui ag-diTravis perkins plc

Tesco plcTaylor wimpey plc

Standard life plcStandard chartered plc

St james’s place plcSse plc

Smith & nephew plcSky plc

Shire plcSevern trent plc

Schroders plcSainsbury (j) plc

Sage group plc/theSabmiller plc

Rsa insurance group plcRoyal mail plc

Royal dutch shell plc-b shsRoyal dutch shell plc-a shs

Royal bank of scotland groupRolls-royce holdings plc

Rio tinto plcRexam plc

Relx plcReckitt benckiser group plc

Randgold resources ltdPrudential plc

Provident financial plcPersimmon plc

Pearson plcPaddy power betfair plc

Old mutual plcNext plc

National grid plcMondi plc

Merlin entertainmentMediclinic international plc

Marks & spencer group plcLondon stock exchange group

Lloyds banking group plcLegal & general group plcLand securities group plc

Kingfisher plcJohnson matthey plc

Itv plcIntu properties plc

Intl consolidated airline-diIntertek group plc

Intercontinental hotels grouInmarsat plc

Informa plcImperial brands plc

Hsbc holdings plcHargreaves lansdown plc

Hammerson plcGlencore plc

Glaxosmithkline plcGkn plc

Fresnillo plcExperian plc

Easyjet plcDixons carphone plc

Direct line insurance groupDiageo plc

Dcc plcCrh plc

Compass group plcCoca-cola hbc ag-di

Centrica plcCarnival plc

Capita plcBurberry group plc

Bunzl plcBt group plc

British land co plcBritish american tobacco plc

Bp plcBhp billiton plc

Berkeley group holdings/theBarratt developments plc

Barclays plcBae systems plc

Babcock intl group plcAviva plc

Astrazeneca plcAssociated british foods plc

Ashtead group plcArm holdings plc

Antofagasta plcAnglo american plc

Admiral group plc3I group plc

#N/a

1,739.00

281.90

4,260.00

221.70

3,593.00

219.00

916.50

3,419.00

1,048.00

1,385.00

209.40

145.60

335.10

643.70

925.00

1,564.00

1,154.00

817.00

4,451.00

2,267.00

2,782.00

252.80

698.50

0.00

545.50

491.40

2,142.00

2,057.00

182.60

719.50

2,835.00

0.00

1,431.00

7,228.00

7,590.00

1,329.00

2,915.00

1,758.00

752.00

8,550.00

197.10

4,983.00

1,028.50

1,599.00

455.20

915.00

341.40

2,796.00

55.14

207.40

981.50

363.10

3,370.00

168.80

269.60

440.50

3,311.00

3,093.00

731.50

683.50

3,911.50

604.10

1,150.00

556.00

246.65

1,610.00

313.30

1,786.00

1,531.00

967.00

326.50

351.80

2,132.50

6,565.00

2,597.00

1,460.00

1,771.00

211.40

3,903.00

577.50

1,459.00

2,174.00

371.85

584.50

4,577.50

458.25

1,212.50

2,382.00

465.40

181.65

534.50

976.00

431.50

4,533.50

2,533.00

1,236.00

0.00

547.50

1,130.50

1,904.00

655.00

0.00

-1.08

-0.11

-0.93

-0.89

-0.88

-1.22

-0.76

-0.71

0.29

1.32

-1.78

-0.82

-1.27

-4.40

-2.22

-0.95

-0.17

-0.61

-1.69

-0.92

-0.96

-0.35

-1.20

0.00

-1.00

0.08

-2.59

-2.74

-2.14

-0.90

-0.32

0.00

-1.04

-0.33

2.64

-1.04

-0.65

1.21

0.40

-0.52

-0.71

3.60

-2.05

0.25

-1.13

0.22

-0.23

-0.67

-1.96

-1.00

-0.20

-0.25

-0.27

-1.11

-0.37

-0.59

-1.37

-0.96

1.11

0.22

-0.13

-1.37

-0.26

1.46

0.08

0.37

-0.60

3.96

-2.11

2.82

0.77

-0.03

-1.25

-0.61

-0.35

-0.34

-0.11

-1.17

-0.81

-1.11

-0.82

-1.18

0.19

0.52

-0.94

-0.82

-0.86

-0.33

-0.79

-2.70

-0.74

-0.86

-1.69

0.48

2.34

-1.83

0.00

-0.99

0.62

-0.94

-1.73

0.00

2,047,236

2,130,730

313,494

10,871,482

317,334

30,718,233

961,084

1,563,992

316,122

1,081,100

10,236,748

13,077,036

2,189,330

8,076,510

511,587

1,082,770

2,717,896

3,853,676

2,267,518

299,405

141,813

6,515,616

1,626,307

-

861,793

2,097,214

4,010,122

3,416,558

10,092,439

2,089,218

2,864,658

-

1,753,711

746,146

839,669

4,716,047

135,447

1,079,593

2,028,787

75,998

8,131,176

1,126,873

3,721,835

675,776

733,527

1,058,516

6,923,462

90,933

94,162,451

8,502,118

1,331,310

3,733,610

224,730

8,142,259

2,001,843

7,405,779

461,151

319,642

3,341,007

1,580,779

775,967

19,757,885

379,666

1,739,662

34,491,491

8,115,650

2,064,868

1,235,238

1,573,882

3,080,951

2,851,387

2,921,822

2,406,475

101,478

1,350,094

1,580,615

228,833

7,885,478

382,363

2,754,238

2,390,162

401,222

10,189,913

1,661,025

1,646,824

29,646,329

6,628,917

466,219

3,143,078

24,681,691

3,287,983

726,621

3,268,389

1,913,397

1,020,568

1,408,056

-

2,094,156

5,212,327

184,438

1,001,351

-

FTSE 100

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

East Japan Railway CoItochu Corp

Fujifilm Holdings CorpYamato Holdings Co Ltd

Chubu Electric Power Co IncMitsubishi Estate Co Ltd

Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesToshiba Corp

Shiseido Co LtdShionogi & Co Ltd

Tokyo Gas Co LtdTokyo Electron Ltd

Panasonic CorpFujitsu Ltd

Central Japan Railway CoT&D Holdings Inc

Toyota Motor CorpKddi Corp

Nitto Denko Corp

9,056.00

1,350.50

3,960.00

2,236.00

1,544.00

2,084.50

433.30

371.10

2,622.00

5,137.00

484.20

9,641.00

1,012.00

604.00

17,680.00

1,243.00

5,938.00

3,085.00

7,347.00

-2.27

0.93

-1.25

-3.48

-0.77

-2.02

-2.63

-3.54

-1.45

-2.25

-1.38

-1.13

-1.36

-2.25

-2.35

-3.46

-2.21

-4.40

-1.21

962,800

13,162,400

1,798,600

2,795,500

1,661,300

6,395,000

19,009,000

38,056,000

1,130,500

868,700

8,382,000

1,463,000

12,214,500

12,603,000

496,100

2,755,300

8,106,700

8,342,200

1,034,700

TOKYO

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Rakuten IncKyocera Corp

Nissan Motor Co LtdHitachi Ltd

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co LtdJfe Holdings Inc

Ana Holdings IncMitsubishi Electric Corp

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial GrHonda Motor Co Ltd

Fast Retailing Co LtdMs&Ad Insurance Group Holdin

Kubota CorpSeven & I Holdings Co Ltd

Inpex CorpResona Holdings Inc

Asahi Kasei CorpKirin Holdings Co Ltd

Marubeni CorpMitsubishi Ufj Financial Gro

Mitsubishi Chemical HoldingsFanuc Corp

Daito Trust Construct Co LtdOtsuka Holdings Co Ltd

Oriental Land Co LtdSekisui House Ltd

Secom Co LtdTokio Marine Holdings Inc

Aeon Co LtdMitsui & Co Ltd

Kao CorpDai-Ichi Life Holdings Inc

Mazda Motor CorpKomatsu Ltd

West Japan Railway CoMurata Manufacturing Co Ltd

Kansai Electric Power Co IncDenso Corp

Sompo Holdings IncDaiwa House Industry Co Ltd

Jx Holdings IncNippon Steel & Sumitomo Meta

Suzuki Motor CorpNippon Telegraph & Telephone

Ajinomoto Co IncMitsui Fudosan Co Ltd

Ono Pharmaceutical Co LtdDaikin Industries Ltd

Bank Of Yokohama Ltd/TheToray Industries IncAstellas Pharma Inc

Bridgestone CorpSony CorpHoya Corp

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust HoldinJapan Tobacco Inc

Osaka Gas Co LtdSumitomo Electric Industries

Daiwa Securities Group IncSoftbank Group Corp

Mizuho Financial Group IncNomura Holdings Inc

Daiichi Sankyo Co LtdFuji Heavy Industries Ltd

Ntt Docomo IncSumitomo Realty & Developmen

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co LtdOrix Corp

Asahi Group Holdings LtdKeyence Corp

Nidec CorpIsuzu Motors Ltd

Unicharm CorpShin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd

Smc CorpMitsubishi CorpNintendo Co Ltd

Eisai Co LtdSumitomo Corp

Canon IncJapan Airlines Co Ltd

1,175.00

5,061.00

1,042.50

547.80

4,609.00

1,478.50

293.80

1,435.00

3,551.00

2,973.50

35,540.00

3,086.00

1,649.00

4,343.00

955.50

451.60

938.30

1,883.00

553.60

537.60

679.60

18,720.00

17,720.00

4,578.00

6,090.00

1,712.50

7,643.00

4,098.00

1,454.50

1,439.00

5,331.00

1,515.50

1,654.00

2,281.00

6,228.00

13,515.00

1,038.50

4,479.00

3,316.00

2,855.00

407.50

2,072.00

3,653.00

4,638.00

2,348.50

2,344.00

2,604.00

9,951.00

0.00

951.30

1,544.50

3,874.00

3,265.00

4,328.00

3,444.00

4,023.00

437.30

1,370.00

609.30

6,349.00

173.70

515.90

2,397.50

3,963.00

2,606.50

2,689.50

1,359.00

1,619.00

3,719.00

75,160.00

9,870.00

1,279.00

2,535.00

7,851.00

29,925.00

2,349.00

25,395.00

6,525.00

1,224.00

2,997.00

3,167.00

-3.61

-2.11

-2.39

-1.95

-2.12

-0.97

-1.74

-1.64

-2.50

-3.46

-0.98

-2.22

-3.00

-2.21

-1.63

-2.63

-0.57

0.61

-0.43

-1.72

-2.06

-0.64

-0.51

-0.61

-0.34

-1.97

0.08

-2.80

-1.26

-0.93

0.26

-2.10

-3.33

-2.06

-1.83

-3.05

0.97

-1.97

-3.15

-2.01

-0.59

0.05

-1.80

-0.94

0.66

-3.56

-2.11

-2.20

0.00

-2.17

0.00

-1.53

-2.16

-1.59

-3.48

-0.12

-1.13

-11.58

-2.36

-2.91

-2.20

-1.81

-3.46

-2.84

-1.66

-3.29

-0.29

-2.47

-0.69

-1.44

-2.81

-1.58

-0.72

-1.47

-2.14

0.13

-0.20

-1.64

1.24

-0.79

0.16

TOKYO

Company Name Lt Price % Chg

Aluminum Corp Of China Ltd-HBank Of East Asia Ltd

Bank Of China Ltd-HBank Of Communications Co-H

Belle International HoldingsBoc Hong Kong Holdings Ltd

Cathay Pacific AirwaysCk Hutchison Holdings Ltd

China Coal Energy Co-HChina Construction Bank-H

China Life Insurance Co-HChina Merchants Port Holding

China Mobile LtdChina Overseas Land & Invest

China Petroleum & Chemical-HChina Resources Beer Holdin

China Resources Land LtdChina Resources Power Holdin

China Shenhua Energy Co-HChina Unicom Hong Kong Ltd

Citic LtdClp Holdings Ltd

Cnooc LtdCosco Shipping Ports Ltd

Esprit Holdings LtdFih Mobile Ltd

Hang Lung Properties LtdHang Seng Bank Ltd

Henderson Land Development

2.90

31.15

3.45

5.88

4.65

27.10

10.22

95.85

4.39

5.64

19.24

20.05

87.75

23.75

5.69

16.76

19.14

13.10

17.00

8.95

11.20

78.90

9.87

7.70

6.31

2.57

17.00

140.30

46.25

0.35

-2.20

-1.99

-1.84

-0.85

-1.81

-1.35

-1.08

-0.68

-2.42

-1.84

-1.47

-1.46

-1.45

-1.90

-0.95

-1.24

-1.21

-1.05

-2.08

-1.58

-1.56

-1.20

-1.03

-0.47

-1.53

-1.39

-0.85

-0.86

6,910,027

1,139,966

149,577,568

23,165,735

17,233,272

8,690,157

4,599,747

3,722,377

12,031,492

144,947,197

29,638,166

1,862,243

11,721,836

10,476,534

47,489,507

4,342,729

9,363,228

2,904,754

25,981,898

34,124,127

6,510,332

1,549,390

47,387,244

3,310,599

1,734,768

2,514,000

5,092,549

632,975

2,157,394

HONG KONG

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Hong Kong & China GasHong Kong Exchanges & Clear

Hsbc Holdings PlcHutchison Whampoa Ltd

Ind & Comm Bk Of China-HLi & Fung Ltd

Mtr CorpNew World Development

Petrochina Co Ltd-HPing An Insurance Group Co-H

Power Assets Holdings LtdSino Land Co

Sun Hung Kai PropertiesSwire Pacific Ltd - Cl ATencent Holdings Ltd

Wharf Holdings Ltd

15.34

203.00

57.70

0.00

4.65

3.82

42.90

9.73

5.28

40.85

73.80

12.70

117.30

80.75

204.40

59.00

-1.03

-1.46

-1.28

0.00

-2.11

-2.05

-0.69

-0.61

-2.22

-1.80

-0.67

-2.16

-0.93

-1.34

-1.35

-1.58

7,742,711

4,367,606

18,793,559

-

164,938,572

9,843,345

1,967,163

8,644,404

76,010,880

20,822,679

2,037,783

4,033,299

3,358,175

969,298

13,870,431

2,110,624

HONG KONG

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Zee Entertainment EnterpriseYes Bank Ltd

Wipro LtdVedanta Ltd

Ultratech Cement LtdTech Mahindra Ltd

Tata Steel LtdTata Power Co Ltd

Tata Motors LtdTata Consultancy Svcs Ltd

Sun Pharmaceutical IndusState Bank Of India

Reliance Industries LtdPunjab National Bank

Power Grid Corp Of India LtdOil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd

Ntpc LtdMaruti Suzuki India Ltd

Mahindra & Mahindra LtdLupin Ltd

Larsen & Toubro LtdKotak Mahindra Bank Ltd

Itc LtdInfosys Ltd

Indusind Bank LtdIdea Cellular Ltd

Icici Bank LtdHousing Development Finance

Hindustan Unilever LtdHindalco Industries Ltd

Hero Motocorp LtdHdfc Bank Limited

Hcl Technologies LtdGrasim Industries Ltd

Gail India LtdDr. Reddy’s Laboratories

Coal India LtdCipla Ltd

Cairn India LtdBosch Ltd

Bharti Airtel LtdBharat Petroleum Corp Ltd

Bharat Heavy ElectricalsBank Of Baroda

Bajaj Auto LtdAxis Bank Ltd

Asian Paints LtdAmbuja Cements Ltd

Adani Ports And Special EconAcc Ltd

500.90

1,209.65

457.90

218.25

3,896.10

429.80

413.35

77.05

513.30

2,304.05

714.05

251.05

1,023.75

136.70

175.10

277.25

156.50

5,794.60

1,369.30

1,492.55

1,448.65

804.00

237.30

981.05

1,229.45

74.30

271.90

1,404.35

841.10

156.50

3,326.90

1,246.15

764.30

935.85

427.95

3,260.80

327.95

560.10

240.95

21,678.95

309.60

660.15

137.00

150.00

2,818.80

476.80

1,062.75

240.60

299.90

1,488.15

-1.66

-3.19

-0.62

-0.71

-2.03

-0.86

-1.04

-1.41

-3.26

-1.96

-2.68

-3.05

-2.59

-5.00

-1.02

-4.12

0.97

-1.42

3.24

-1.05

-0.99

-0.19

-1.10

-0.85

1.25

-3.00

-1.25

-0.91

0.70

-0.29

-1.28

-1.08

-1.11

-2.76

-1.02

-1.98

-0.64

-2.04

-0.72

-2.85

-2.47

-2.37

-3.21

-3.41

-0.24

0.21

-1.30

-1.60

-1.72

-1.04

SENSEX

Company Name Lt Price % Chg

WORLD INDICESIndices Lt Price Change

GCC INDICESIndices Lt Price Change

Dow Jones Indus. AvgS&P 500 Index

Nasdaq Composite IndexS&P/Tsx Composite Index

Mexico Bolsa IndexBrazil Bovespa Stock Idx

Ftse 100 IndexCac 40 Index

Dax IndexIbex 35 Tr

Nikkei 225Japan Topix

Hang Seng IndexAll Ordinaries Indx

Nzx All IndexBse Sensex 30 Index

Nse S&P Cnx Nifty IndexStraits Times Index

Karachi All Share IndexJakarta Composite Index

18,012.65

2,104.25

5,132.20

14,691.12

47,303.31

63,326.42

6,851.07

4,418.68

10,373.82

8,869.20

18,012.65

2,104.25

5,132.20

14,691.12

47,303.31

63,326.42

6,851.07

4,418.68

10,373.82

8,869.20

-24.45

-7.47

-21.38

-87.20

-705.97

-1,598.10

-66.07

-51.60

-152.34

-171.50

-307.72

-24.75

-336.57

-64.22

-13.90

-349.39

-112.25

-6.55

+285.62

-10.55

Doha Securities MarketSaudi Tadawul

Kuwait Stocks ExchangeBahrain Stock Exchage

Oman Stock MarketAbudhabi Stock MarketDubai Financial Market

10,073.03

5,989.62

5,407.67

1,145.07

5,470.86

4,264.50

3,291.52

-128.87

-7.41

-3.96

-4.05

-6.84

-42.89

-30.93

“Information contained herein is believed to be reliable and had been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. The accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. This publication is for providing information only and is not intended as an off er or solicitation for a purchase or sale of any of the financial instruments mentioned. Gulf Times and Doha Bank or any of their employees shall not be held accountable and will not accept any losses or liabilities for actions based on this data.”

7,619,900

879,500

12,741,900

19,601,000

3,681,800

5,549,500

12,757,000

6,807,500

7,506,000

6,120,700

396,700

1,502,000

3,412,900

2,864,500

5,713,700

10,591,300

5,812,000

4,963,900

7,853,300

71,705,700

6,416,900

797,900

273,800

766,900

755,100

1,907,300

649,400

2,054,900

2,626,900

8,566,400

2,403,400

7,065,000

5,807,800

4,705,600

1,180,500

1,275,400

3,239,900

1,566,900

1,096,100

1,683,900

8,979,400

8,127,200

1,721,400

3,105,000

1,374,800

5,530,000

2,942,800

866,900

-

4,694,000

8,663,800

2,343,300

9,086,800

1,252,700

2,389,500

3,296,600

6,255,000

11,688,300

6,451,000

6,223,600

161,393,400

25,339,100

3,661,600

5,280,900

6,016,700

2,791,000

2,394,000

6,074,100

952,200

129,300

1,294,200

1,865,100

2,404,300

1,075,100

187,300

7,335,300

1,973,200

850,100

6,514,500

3,440,400

3,121,800

969,784

3,095,619

1,463,490

20,112,140

247,182

3,496,826

8,247,376

2,240,793

5,520,015

1,825,372

3,720,616

14,789,543

1,776,491

11,408,413

2,821,499

11,485,161

7,146,650

549,946

3,459,106

717,344

1,110,439

1,299,303

5,333,734

2,829,896

2,266,629

6,927,181

14,992,224

1,825,521

1,159,431

12,132,202

286,453

1,741,416

1,074,862

615,522

2,272,902

411,234

5,995,228

1,219,667

6,363,713

10,383

2,087,868

1,457,353

5,650,864

5,761,285

315,710

10,610,110

937,073

2,173,790

5,292,001

204,186

Gulf Times Thursday, November 3, 2016

BUSINESS8

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Thursday, November 3, 201612

Boeing, Airbus trade barbs as China competition heats upAFPZhuhai, China

Aerospace giants Boeing and Air-bus took potshots at one another at the Zhuhai air show, as the

US and European rivals seek to capture more of China’s booming aircraft mar-ket.

China is one of the Western manu-facturers’ key battlegrounds, with its travellers taking to the skies in ever-growing numbers.

The country’s airlines will need near-ly 6,000 new planes worth $945bn over the next two decades, Airbus said in its 2016-2035 Global Market Forecast.

Boeing’s expectations are even more optimistic, for 6,800 aircraft costing $1tn.

To win favour locally both have built partnerships with Chinese fi rms.

Airbus has a completion and delivery centre in Tianjin, where workers install furnishings and apply paint to aircraft for the domestic market.

It also buys parts such as exit doors, brake blades and wing sections from Chinese suppliers.

Boeing is planning to open a facility with the state-owned Commercial Air-craft Corp of China (COMAC) to paint and install cabins for 737-model planes, the Chinese fi rm said.

Eric Chen, president of Airbus Chi-na, dismissed the Seattle fi rm’s plan as “close to one generation” behind his own fi rm, saying it was following Air-bus’s strategy “with a lot of reluctance”.

“I got two impressions,” he said at a briefi ng at the China Airshow in Zhu-hai, the industry’s biggest event in the country. “First one, the decision we made 10 years ago was right.

The second impression is that we are well in advance of our competitor.”

Darren Hulst, managing director for Northeast Asia marketing at Boeing, earlier told reporters that the Airbus A350 fell short of the 787 widebody plane in range, capacity, carbon emis-sions, window size and aerodynamics.

“The 787 is capable and has technol-ogy and features built into it that are not available on the A350, which was obvi-

ously introduced later into the market,” he said.

He added the company had 14 China deliveries of 787-9s in 2016 and had se-cured orders and commitments for 46 more.

While the two megafi rms see a sunny future in China, homegrown competi-tors backed by Beijing aim to beat them at home – and ultimately abroad.

Chinese authorities have urged com-panies to acquire technology and skills in a range of high-value sectors includ-ing aerospace in the “Made in China 2025” plan.

At the same time as it is working with both Boeing and Airbus, COMAC is de-veloping single-aisle jets to compete with them.

Its C919 narrow-body is going up

against the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 in the 160-seat segment, which the Chinese company predicts will have more than 17,000 deliveries over the next 20 years.

In Zhuhai COMAC announced that state-owned China Eastern Airlines had committed to buy 20 C919s.

In the summer COMAC’s regional jet, the 90-seat ARJ21, fl ew its fi rst com-mercial fl ight after years of delays.

Boeing, Airbus and Canadian region-al builder Bombardier all played down the threat of Chinese competition.

But the business climate has dark-ened for US and European fi rms in the country, with the American Chamber of Commerce in China reporting this year that more than three-quarters of survey respondents felt “less welcome” there.

Pessimism among European compa-nies hit an all-time high in the summer, according to a European Chamber of Commerce in China report on the “in-creasingly hostile” business climate.

Chinese-built planes are sure to se-cure market share in the country, Eric Lin, Hong Kong-based director of Asia transport research with UBS Securities, told AFP.

In the short-term, he added, foreign fi rms have little to fear from Chinese ri-vals in the developed countries that are their home market.

“But after 10 years, it’s hard to say,” he noted.

China has a history of adapting for-eign technology with remarkable swift-ness, turning from a buyer of Russian military aircraft to a producer of ad-

vanced stealth jets in 20 years. Its high speed rail and clean energy industries went from collaborators to competitors faster than global rivals anticipated.

Like all foreign fi rms with valuable intellectual property operating in Chi-na, the aerospace giants understand the risks of training their future rivals, said Christopher Balding, professor of economics at Peking University’s HSBC Business School.

But they are stuck between a rock and a hard place, he added, because share-holders want them to fi ght for Chinese market share.

“Even if they don’t come to China, there’s a good chance that if they are doing anything innovative it’s going to get stolen anyway, so the only thing they are doing is harming their revenue.”

Models of an ARJ-21 jet is presented by Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, in Zhuhai, Guangdong province. Boeing is planning to open a facility with the state-owned Chinese firm to paint and install cabins for 737-model planes.

ReutersYangon

Norwegian telecoms company Telenor will focus on improving data services in Myan-mar, the head of the local business said yes-

terday, as an era of rapid subscriber growth follow-ing the opening up of the economy has ended.

The liberalisation of Myanmar’s telecoms sec-tor has been a rare example of successful reform since the military ceded power in 2011, with Telenor quickly establishing itself as the No 2 in the market with 18mn subscribers.

But after a period of astonishing growth in a country which had one of the world’s lowest mobile penetration rates, the fi ght over customers is shift-ing to more-lucrative Internet services, fuelled by Myanmar’s near-ubiquitous use of Facebook.

“Those who wanted to have a SIM card already have one... The fi ght will turn into existing cus-tomers rather than new, virgin customers who have never had experiences in cellphones,” Telenor My-anmar chief executive, Lars Erik Tellmann, told Reuters in an interview.

“Everyone has jumped into mobile – there’s no fi xed line alternatives and very few have PCs while Internet penetration remains extremely low,” said Tellmann. “That explains why everyone is so hun-gry for their smartphone and their ability to be on-line.”

Other social media apps popular in Myanmar in-clude Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Viber.

Telenor faces tough competition from Myanmar

Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), a state-owned provider that has partnered with Japan’s KDDI Corp to improve its services, and Qatar’s Ooredoo.

Estimates vary, but industry experts say MPT has around 21mn subscribers while Ooredoo has re-ported 9mn.

Vietnamese carrier Viettel said in April it planned to form a consortium with two Myanmar compa-nies to invest a combined $1.5bn in Myanmar’s tel-ecoms sector if it won the country’s fourth, and last, telecom licence.

Myanmar accounted for 5.3% of Telenor’s rev-enue in the third quarter and was its fastest grow-ing market. But the company’s average revenue per user in Myanmar, a key industry measure, was down 28% to $4 compared with a year earlier, partly be-cause Telenor is now pushing deeper into rural areas where people spend less on mobile services.

“Super hyper growth has fl attened,” said Tell-mann.

As of the third quarter, around 40% of Telenor’s revenue in Myanmar came from data services, Tell-mann said, while the remaining 60% was from the traditional sources such as voice calls and text mes-sages.

The company has built 6,800 telecoms towers and plans to build an additional 3,200 by the end of 2018.

“The leftover rollout we have is going to be the most challenging and diffi cult,” said Tellmann, re-ferring to areas controlled by the country’s myriad of ethnic armed groups and where fi ghting still goes on unabated.

Telenor shifts Myanmarfocus to data services

China firm seeks financing for $5.5bn Caribbean oil project

ReutersBeijing

Commodity trader Guangdong Zhenrong

Energy Co Ltd is in talks to secure funding for

a $5.5bn plan to upgrade a Caribbean oil re-

finery and build a natural gas terminal, giving

China a foothold in a strategic oil hub.

The project, which the state-owned firm

aims to lead with support from the country’s

oil majors, would give the world’s No 2 oil

consumer control of the Isla refinery on the

tiny island of Curacao that supplies fuel to

Venezuela and crude oil to Asia.

State-owned Guangdong Zhenrong agreed

a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in

September with the government of Curacao,

an autonomous Dutch state off Venezuela’s

northwest coast, to upgrade its ageing refin-

ery and build a gas terminal.

A delegation from Curacao, including gov-

ernment lawyers and the head of its refinery

facilities, is in southern China this week to visit

oil and gas plants, as parties move negotia-

tions beyond the initial cooperation pact, two

top executives at the Guangzhou-based China

firm said.

“We are discussing with China Construc-

tion Bank, China Development Bank, ICBC and

Bank of China to provide the bulk of the financ-

ing. Some banks have already made detailed

proposals,” said Chen Bingyan, a company

adviser and the project’s key negotiator.

Early work showed the project, including

the refinery upgrade, increased oil storage and

the natural gas facility which is designed to

provide clean fuel to local users, would require

about $5.5bn in total investment, Chen said.

The figure was below the $10bn in Septem-

ber’s preliminary agreement, which referred

to the eventual size of the investment the

Chinese firm committed to spend on Curacao,

he said. The 335,000 barrel-per-day Isla refin-

ery, located just 50km (31 miles) northwest of

Venezuela, has for decades been operated by

Venezuela’s state oil firm PDVSA under a lease

agreement, but the cash-poor company has

been reluctant to meet Curacao’s requests to

modernise the plant, which locals blame for

pollution.

China in the last decade has become one

of the top buyers of Venezuelan crude and

fuel through an oil-for-loans financing deal,

and some of its purchases use Curacao as a

transfer point.

China purchased nearly 490,000 bpd of

crude oil and products from Venezuela in the

first nine months this year, roughly 6% of its

total purchases.

Guangdong Zhenrong, an oil and metals

trader with little experience in the refining

or gas terminal business, is aiming to lead

the upgrade project and seek technical and

operational support from the country’s state

energy giants.

The trader hopes to be the single-largest

stake holder in the project, and has entered

into preliminary cooperation agreements with

engineering and construction units of Beijing’s

top oil firms including CNPC, Sinopec and

CNOOC, said Chen and a second top executive.

“As a smallest sibling, we’ll lead using our

relationship skills.

Our bigger brothers will pitch in with their

expertise,” said the second executive, who

asked not to be named.

Sinopec, China’s largest refiner would re-

vamp the refinery which was first built in 1918,

while CNOOC, which led China’s expansion of

its LNG import facilities, had been identified as

the potential builder and operator of the gas

terminal, Chen said.

“Guangdong Zhenrong is just a political

vehicle. It could subcontract to engineering

divisions of Sinopec and CNPC.

The big oils prefer to keep a low profile,

not being seen helping PDVSA directly,” said

Gordon Kwan of Nomura Research.

China Petroleum Engineering & Construc-

tion Corp (CPECC), a unit of CNPC is expected

to lead in expanding the storage site at Bullen-

bay to 36mn barrels, double the current size.

Sinopec declined to comment.

CNOOC didn’t immediately respond to a

request for comment, while CPECC was not

immediately available.

Guangdong Zhenrong, which posted sales

of 68.7bn yuan ($10.14bn) in 2014, also won ap-

proval from Myanmar earlier this year to build

a long-planned $3bn refinery in the Southeast

Asian nation.

S&P affi rms India rating, rules out upgradeReutersMumbai

Standard & Poor’s affirmed India’s sovereign ratings yesterday, wel-coming its policy stability and im-

proved monetary credibility, but ruled out any upgrade this year or in 2017 because of weak public finances and low per capita income.

The stance comes despite a push for a ratings upgrade by Indian offi cials, who have argued they have kept the fi scal defi -cit in check and passed major economic reforms including a revamp of a goods and services tax (GST).

But S&P stuck to its rating of “BBB-minus” with a “stable” outlook, saying it would need to see more eff orts to lower net general government debt level to below 60% of gross domestic product.

“The stable outlook balances India’s sound external position and inclusive poli-cymaking tradition against the vulner-

abilities stemming from its low per capita income and weak public fi nances,” S&P said in a statement.

“The outlook indicates that we do not ex-pect to change our rating on India this year or next, based on our current set of fore-casts.”

A senior government offi cial expressed disappointment at the decision, saying it did not refl ect eff orts over the past two years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to improve economic growth.

India is introducing the GST and stuck to an ambitious fi scal defi cit target of 3.5% of GDP for the year ending in March.

“It’s a question that calls for an intro-spection among those who do the rating,” Shaktikanta Das, economic aff airs secre-tary, told reporters.

S&P said its stance was based on its ex-pectations that fi scal revenue would not rise enough to meaningfully reduce the defi cit over the medium term, while noting the government’s borrowing remained “high”.

The agency also expressed concern the

government could delay subsidy cuts, while noting the banking sector would likely need capital infusions of about $45bn by 2019, or 2% of GDP, to meet global Basel III capital norms.

“Overall, we believe public fi nances are set to remain key rating constraints for some time,” S&P said.

Still, S&P welcomed government eff orts to “address longstanding impediments to growth”, including the passage of GST and other reforms such as in labour and the en-ergy sector.

It also welcomed the Reserve Bank of In-dia’s action to reduce infl ation and enhance its “monetary policy credibility”, including through the introduction of a committee to set interest rates and improve communica-tion.

Both S&P and Fitch Ratings rate India “BBB-minus”, the lowest investment-grade rating, with a “stable” outlook.

Moody’s Investors Service rates India at an equivalent “Baa3”, but with a “positive” outlook.

COMAC, UAC launch JVto develop jumbo jetReutersZhuhai, China

China and Russia yesterday off ered

a glimpse of a grand plan to jointly

make a jumbo jet to rival giants Boe-

ing and Airbus, showing a model of

the unnamed plane to be developed

by a joint venture that will start

work this year.

State-owned planemakers

Commercial Aircraft Corp of China

(COMAC) and United Aircraft Corp

(UAC) of Russia said they have

started the hunt to find suppliers

as they presented the mock-up of

the widebody jet for the first time

in public at a ceremony during

Airshow China, the country’s big-

gest air expo. But executives of both

firms at the event off ered no con-

crete details on financing and few

technical specifications for a project

that Western analysts have said is

highly ambitious, diff icult to pull off

and likely to carry a high price.

Guo Bozhi, general manager of

COMAC’s widebody department,

said a 50-50 joint venture based

in Shanghai will start operations

this year. First announced in 2014,

the project has been kept largely

secret, though the firms have said

they want conduct a maiden flight

in 2022 and begin deliveries in 2025

– targets Western industry analysts

consider unlikely, saying widebody

jets can take decades rather than

years to develop.

“A widebody jet is an extremely

complicated product, which will

require a lot of skills (to develop)

and require broad industrial knowl-

edge,” Guo told reporters.”China

and Russia each have their own

advantages.” Descriptions accompa-

nying the model showed the firms

ultimately envision three variants of

the aircraft, based on a basic version

that will hold 280 seats with a range

of up to 12,000 kilometres.

The decision to base the venture

in Shanghai was a “mutual decision”

Guo said at the event, attended by

COMAC Chairman Jin Zhuanglong,

UAC’s Chief Executive Yury Slyusar

as well as Russia’s Minister of Trade

and Industry Denis Manturov.

A visitor rests under a Telenor signboard at the GSMA Mobile World Conference in Barcelona. Myanmar accounted for 5.3% of the Norwegian telecoms company’s revenue in the third quarter and was its fastest growing market.

BUSINESS13Gulf Times

Thursday, November 3, 2016

ReutersShanghai

Yum China Holdings Inc, newly hived off from its US fast food giant parent, faces a tricky battle to revive sales

growth in the country, chief executive Micky Pant told Reuters, given the strength of its local rivals and a volatile market.

The fi rm, which debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, has seen China revenues at its KFC, Pizza Hut and other outlets fl atline since 2012 even as it has opened over 1,500 new stores.

It is aiming for stronger growth in 2017, though Pant said China was hard to read.

“We’ve guided to high single-digit rev-enue growth as our business model, but we can’t really predict year-on-year, that’s the whole point in China. You’ll go up, but the path is not always straight,” Pant said at the fi rm’s Shanghai offi ces.

As part of Yum Brands Inc, the China unit saw stellar sales growth of over 20% each year until 2012.

Since then, it has struggled with food safe-ty scares, slower economic growth, changing consumer tastes and stronger rivals.

Yum Brands has also pointed towards food delivery apps luring diners with cut-price deals and recent US-China tensions over the South China Sea triggering boycotts of its stores. Pant said that the spin-off of the China unit would not, however, mark a shift away from Yum’s American roots any further than it has done already – its brands off er Durian pizzas and popular Asian breakfast porridge congee.

“Being an American brand has upside and it has some risks. People in general love America, but they might have diff erences with American foreign policy,” said Pant.

A recent investment, though, by Pri-mavera Capital and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd affi liate Ant Financial Services Group would bring extra local nous with foreign exchange, local taxes and understanding the real estate market, he added. Pant said

Yum China will focus on building its own stores rather than via franchise partners in order to maximise returns and keep a strong grip on food safety.

In the United States the vast majority of Yum stores are franchised.

“I think the franchise system in China is very nascent, it’s very new. In the US you can go to people with franchise experience of 25 years. They know the whole deal,” said Pant, adding that letting go of control could be a “huge risk”.

“In the vast, vast majority (of cases), for

the next several years, we will be building our own stores.” Yum China aims to build 600 new stores each year with long-term poten-tial for 20,000 outlets in the market.

However, Pant said the focus for now would be squeezing more out of its existing 7,300 stores – even if this meant slower ex-pansion.

“We took about $150mn of capital this year and transferred it, instead of build-ing new units, to refurbishing our existing stores,” he said.

This has included installing cashless pay-

ment systems, effi cient LED lighting and digital menus. Pant added Yum China was likely to attract more investors from Asia, while the traditional US investor base for Yum Brands might be more cautious about the higher risks. One positive, though, was China’s stable political environment com-pared with other parts of the world.

“Look at the United States. They’ve got an election coming up in a week and no-one knows what going to happen – that’s the biggest risk of all. At least we have stability here,” he said.

Yum China faces tricky path to revive growth

People celebrate Yum China listing on the NYSE in Shanghai. The firm has seen China revenues at its KFC, Pizza Hut and other outlets flatline since 2012 even as it has opened over 1,500 new stores.

BloombergSeoul

South Korean President Park Geun-hye is re-placing her fi nance minister after less than a year in the job as she sacrifi ces senior of-

fi cials to stem a spiralling leadership crisis.Politics aside, her latest choice as fi nance chief

and deputy prime minister – Yim Jong-yong – comes to the role with experience overhauling the nation’s indebted heavy industries, and detailed knowledge of the fi nance ministry, where he be-gan his career.

“For stable management of the economy, I will closely monitor household debt, the economy’s biggest risk factor, and ensure it is kept at a man-ageable level,” Yim told reporters at a hastily ar-ranged press conference yesterday.

“I believe expansionary economic policies are necessary as the economy has been in a slowdown for a prolonged period.” He didn’t respond to questions asking how the current political scan-dal may aff ect the implementation of economic policies.

The government is scheduled to announce measures today to manage the property market, which has helped prop up the economy amid an export slump, while also adding to risks of a debt bubble. A meeting of ministers on the measures today morning will be headed by the current fi -nance minister, Yoo Il-ho, who has been in the role since January. Neither Yoo or the prime minister, who is also being replaced, were directly linked to the scandal that prompted the personnel shakeup.

Yim, 57, served as chairman of the Financial Serv-ices Commission since March last year. While there, he enacted policies to curb growth in house-hold debt. He said at the press conference that his policy stance is to not allow property speculation to stimulate economic growth.

He began his career in government at the fi -nance ministry in the early 1980s, where he served as fi rst vice fi nance minister in 2010-2011 overseeing the economic growth and foreign-ex-change policies. He later went on to run NH Fi-nancial Group. His appointment as fi nance min-ister is likely to take place after he appears before a parliamentary hearing.

“It seems Yim was seen as the appropriate per-son to succeed Yoo, considering his wide experi-ence in government and the expertise he has in corporate restructuring,” said Kim Hyeon-wook, an economist at SK Research Institute. “He’ll have to perform surgery on ailing companies and implement other reform measures that were be-ing pursued by the administration.”

Initial market reaction to Yim’s nomination was muted, but bond yields fell and the won extended losses as risk-off sentiment spread globally ahead of next week’s US presidential election. The benchmark Kospi stock index – one of the world’s worst performers over the past month – fell 1.4% at the close in Seoul. The won dropped 0.8% against the dollar, while the yield on fi ve-year government bonds declined three basis points to 1.50%. “Today’s bond market moves were mostly related with concerns regarding US elections,” said Kang Seung-won, a fi xed-income analyst for NH Investment & Securities Co in Seoul.

Volvo, Geely to deepen ties Scandal gives Korea its 5th fi nance minister in 4 yearsReuters

Shanghai

Swedish car maker Volvo announced yesterday moves deepening coopera-tion with its Chinese parent Zhejiang

Geely Holding Group Co – a tie-up that’s shaping up to show that China can make a success of buying consumer brands.

Volvo’s global chief executive Hakan Sam-uelsson and Geely chairman Li Shufu said the two fi rms will soon start producing cars at a joint assembly plant in Taizhou, in eastern Zhejiang province.

The plant, operated by Volvo and expected to start gradually ramping up production this quarter, will produce compact cars based on an “advanced” vehicle architecture the two companies have jointly developed in Sweden.

Both Volvo and Geely are expected to pro-duce small cars at the plant based on that Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) plat-form – for both domestic and export markets.

Volvo is trying to create “synergies and economies of scale”, Samuelsson said in Shanghai yesterday, “by sharing develop-ment-intensive components: engines, trans-missions, suspension parts and brakes”, and by sharing manufacturing facilities.

The eff ort won’t “dilute” or “jeopardise” the identities of the two car brands, he said.

Yesterday, Volvo also unveiled two stretched variants of its recently launched large S90 premium sedan, including the S90 Excellence. It will build both S90 variants at its assembly plant in Daqing in northeastern China, for sale in China and abroad. Samu-

elsson and other Volvo offi cials said Volvo will make China a global production hub for the S90 and its long-wheel base variants.

While some production of those cars will likely remain in Europe the company over time will produce in China a majority of those cars it sells globally.

Volvo began exporting its China-made cars last year, shipping its S60 Inscription to the United States. The Taizhou plant will be Vol-

vo’s third assembly site in China, along with Daqing and one in Chengdu in western China.

The car maker also has two plants in Eu-rope, and is building a new plant in South Carolina in the United States.

Geely raised auto industry eyebrows when it bought Volvo from Ford for $1.8bn six years ago. Few saw any obvious synergies in mar-rying a premium Western marque with a Chi-nese entry brand.

CIC group to mull bid for property owner GLP

BloombergHong Kong

Global Logistic Properties, the $6bn owner of industrial prop-

erty, has attracted takeover interest from an investor group

that includes China’s sovereign fund, people with knowledge

of the matter said.

China Investment Corp, Hopu Investment Management

and Hillhouse Capital Management have held talks about

making a joint off er for Singapore-based GLP, according to

the people. The suitors have reached out to potential part-

ners to weigh their interest in joining the consortium, one

of the people said, asking not to be identified because the

information is private.

GLP shares gained 8.7% to S$1.945 at the close yesterday

in Singapore, after earlier jumping by an intraday record of

14.5%. Any deal would depend on the receptiveness of GLP’s

biggest shareholder, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC

Pte, and there’s no certainty the consortium will proceed

with a bid, the people said.

A transaction could rank among Asia’s biggest-ever

buyouts and would add to this year’s record flow of Chinese

acquisitions abroad, a binge that’s been partially driven by

anticipation of further declines in the yuan. GLP was trading

Tuesday at about 0.7 times book value, making it a poten-

tially attractive buyout target.

“GLP has been operating in China and the Chinese

consortium knows the target very well, so it’s a deal working

in their favour,” Andrew Sullivan, a managing director at

Haitong International Securities Group Ltd, said by phone.

“The Chinese investors are expecting the yuan to depreciate

further, so they are watching very closely at any opportunity

to acquire overseas assets.”

Off icials at the consortium members declined to comment

or didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. A

representative for GIC declined to comment.

“The company wishes to advise that it is not in discus-

sions with the above referenced investor group at this time,”

GLP said in an exchange statement yesterday in response to

queries from the Singapore bourse. “The company remains

committed to enhancing shareholder value and continues

to review and assess potential opportunities.” GLP has been

involved in at least $17.1bn of acquisitions in the past three

years, data compiled by Bloomberg show, as the warehouse

owner seeks to bulk up and take advantage of booming

demand from customers like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and

JD.com Inc. The company’s clients also include Adidas AG,

French retailer Carrefour SA and luxury-goods giant LVMH

Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, its website shows.

Shares of GLP have declined more than 40% from their

peak three years ago through Tuesday. They closed at S$1.79

Tuesday, below their 2010 IPO price, giving the company a

market value of about $6bn.

“We believe that it is undervalued,” said Christopher

Wong, a Singapore-based senior investment manager at

Aberdeen Asset Management Asia Ltd, which owns shares of

GLP. “The business has significant potential in a space that is

growing at a rapid pace.”

Worried about yuan drop, Chinese foreign buying binge gives authorities a headacheReutersShanghai

Wealth managers like Huang Qing are

tormenting the authorities in Beijing.

The Chinese government has intro-

duced a slew of measures to curb capital

outflows in recent years as it seeks to

prevent a sudden plunge in the yuan.

They include cracking down on

underground banks and sales of foreign

insurance products that are more like

investments, increasing scrutiny of

overseas deals, and keeping tight restric-

tions on foreign currency purchases by

individuals.

Yet Huang says he still finds legitimate

ways to move his clients money overseas,

creating a headache for China’s central

bank as it seeks to keep the currency,

which is also known as the renminbi,

relatively stable.

“Over the past year, we have helped

many clients allocate their wealth into US

dollar assets, and the biggest obstacle we

encountered was how to move renminbi

overseas in a proper, legal manner,”

Huang, Shanghai manager at CreditEase,

which specialises in managing money for

wealthy Chinese investors, recently told a

forum in Shanghai.

CreditEase, which has been raising

money from Chinese investors to buy

property assets in the United States and

Europe, sets an investment minimum

threshold of $150,000, but Beijing caps

individual foreign currency purchases at

$50,000 a year.

“So, we had to use the $50,000 quotas

from all their family members, both

old and young, to meet our investment

threshold.

This is what we have been beating our

brains out to do for our clients over the

past year,” said Huang.

It is paying off .

Since last April, CreditEase has suc-

cessfully raised more than $300mn

from Chinese investors for two dollar-

denominated real estate funds, and is

now launching a third.

It is this kind of activity that has

increased demand for the dollar and pres-

sured the Chinese currency.

The yuan has declined to its weak-

est levels against the dollar in six years,

touching 6.7869 last Friday.

During the first nine months of this

year, individuals and companies made

net foreign exchange purchases of

$243.4bn, according to China’s forex regu-

lator, though the pace is down from the

$465.9bn recorded in 2015 when a plunge

in Chinese stock markets unnerved

investors.

Meanwhile, China’s foreign currency

reserves have fallen to $3.17tn at the end

of September, from a $3.99tn peak in

June 2014, indicating that the Chinese

government sold US dollars to prop up

the yuan’s value.

It’s not only individuals who have en-

gaged in moving their assets overseas.

China’s outward direct investment

(ODI) surged 71% during the first six

months of 2016 to $121.4bn, as Chinese

companies bought assets overseas,

according to the State Administration of

Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

China’s outbound acquisition boom

has been fuelled by Beijing’s strategy to

develop overseas markets by helping to

finance infrastructure, easy access to li-

quidity in China, and the lower valuations

of many overseas assets when compared

with those in China, said Samson Lambert

Lo, head of mergers and acquisitions for

UBS in Asia. Financial institutions have

been using the yuan’s recent depreciation

to push more people to increase their

foreign exposure.

“Attack is the best form of defence,”

Chinese wealth manager Jupai Holdings

Ltd, which had $3.90bn under manage-

ment at the end of June, said in a recent

advertisement on the messaging app

WeChat. “Allocating US dollar assets can

eff ectively hedge against yuan depre-

ciation risks,” the ad said. The Chinese

government has been seeking to dispel

concerns there will be further yuan de-

preciation.Wang Chunying, a spokeswom-

an for SAFE, told a news conference on

Oct 21 that recent strong dollar purchases

were driven by seasonal factors such as

the summer tourism season.

The off icial media has also weighed in.

“Yuan’s recent depreciation against

the dollar was mainly the result of dollar

strength...but it doesn’t mean yuan is

entering a one-way deprecation path,”

the overseas edition of the People’s Daily

wrote on October 19. The Communist

Party’s mouthpiece added that the yuan

will remain “basically stable” in the mid-

to long-term. These soothing words have

been accompanies by a series of crack-

downs on institutions that help Chinese

move money into foreign assets.

China’s biggest bank card provider

UnionPay said last Saturday it will tighten

rules for how mainland customers can

use its debit and credit cards to purchase

Hong Kong insurance products.

In a related move, the country’s insur-

ance regulator recently visited foreign

life insurance firms in Beijing as part of an

investigation into the illegal sale of insur-

ance products in Hong Kong to mainland

Chinese, the off icial Shanghai Securities

News reported on Monday.

But many in the market don’t buy such

actions and commentary and expect the

market to test Beijing’s resolve.

For example, Shanghai businessman

Shi Luqun, says he has acquired a prop-

erty in the United States because he fears

the yuan could weaken by at least 15 %

against the dollar over the next two years.

He cites structural problems in the

Chinese economy – such as over-depend-

ence on real estate and exports – as well

as the likelihood of devaluations by rival

trading nations. A sales executive at Yuwo

Capital, which helps Chinese invest in or

migrate to the United States, said it has

seen a rise in client enquiries recently,

with some bringing forward their US in-

vestment plans due to depreciation fears.

Li Shufu, founder and chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding (left) and Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive off icer of Volvo attend a news conference in Shanghai yesterday. Samuelsson and Li said the two firms will soon start producing cars at a joint assembly plant in Taizhou, Zhejiang province.

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Thursday, November 3, 201614

Carney’s longer BoE term won’t see Brexit Britain out of woodsBloombergLondon

Theresa May might find the benefits of

Mark Carney’s new personal Brexit strat-

egy are rather short-lived.

By choosing to leave the Bank of

England in mid-2019 rather than his

initial plan of 2018, Carney is giving the

economy a helping hand through the end

of the UK’s split with the European Union.

Yet by still declining to serve a full 8-year

term through 2021, he’s forcing the prime

minister to search for a skilled successor

just as those talks reach their climax and

executives and investors are coming to

terms with what the post-Brexit economy

looks like.

The BoE governor has been aggres-

sive in providing stimulus to the British

economy since the June referendum and

his decision, after months of speculation

over his future, provides a continuity

that investors have welcomed. The key

risk now is that with talks on the depar-

ture from the EU scheduled to begin by

the end of March and last for two years,

the economy will be struggling to find

its feet outside the trading bloc before

he leaves.

“It’s a critical point, 2018 to 2019,” said

Philip Shaw, an economist at Investec

Securities in London. “It was tricky enough

getting Carney into the job in the first

place. In 2019 the challenge will be just as

great.”

That year will be a test for Europe as a

whole, with Brexit and Carney’s departure

set to take place just before the European

Central Bank changes its own leadership.

Mario Draghi is due to step down as presi-

dent in October that year at a time when

his institution might be tentatively trying

to work out how to exit its own massive

stimulus program.

“This is the ultimate compromise,” said

James Rossiter, senior global strategist

at TD Securities in London, and a former

Bank of England off icial. “If they are not

quite done by then, hopefully negotia-

tions are well underway and his departure

is maybe not quite as negative for the

economy.”

Carney’s choice won’t be welcome to

everyone. The governor is not a popular

figure among those who campaigned

for Brexit, who argue he undermined the

three-century old BoE by showing political

bias during the referendum campaign and

underestimating the economy’s resilience.

The head of parliament’s Treasury

Select Committee Andrew Tyrie — who

helped spark the debate about Carney’s

tenure by requesting clarity at the start of

this year — is also critical of breaking the

eight-year term set down in statute and

said lawmakers will need to examine the

decision when the governor next testifies.

“The Treasury Committee concluded in

November 2011 that a non-renewable term

of eight years for the post of governor

was appropriate, he said in a statement on

Monday.” In making this announcement,

the government and the governor are

sticking neither to the timetable. More un-

certainty needs to be avoided. So the deci-

sion requires a good deal of examination

and explanation, which the Committee will

seek when it next sees the Governor.”

By remaining in the role, Carney may

help to quell speculation that May could

seek to curb the BoE’s independence.

While she sought to row back on her

comments last month that loose monetary

policy has caused “bad side eff ects,”

they fuelled a fresh torrent of criticism

of Carney by members of her party and

prompted him to push back, saying that

off icials would not take instruction from

lawmakers.

One question lawmakers might ask is

whether Carney would consider a further

extension of his tenure if Brexit negotia-

tions are still ongoing in 2019, given he is

not tied to any fixed term.

The transition to a new governor “may

create some disturbance, especially if the

negotiations are not concluded during the

two years,” said Mikael Olai Milhoj, a senior

analyst at Danske Bank. That is “not an

unrealistic scenario.”

ECB should tail off stimulusspending: German expertsAFPFrankfurt

The European Central Bank’s easy-mon-ey policy has let eurozone governments delay key reforms, a German expert

panel said yesterday, urging the Frankfurt institution to ease off the massive stimulus spending.

“The extent of monetary easing in the euro area is no longer appropriate given the region’s economic recovery,” the German Council of Economic Experts said in its annual report to Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“The ECB should slow down its bond pur-chases and end them earlier.”

Under President Mario Draghi, the ECB has bought well over one trillion euros of govern-ment and corporate bonds in a bid to pump cash into the fi nancial system.

Most analysts expect the central bank to extend the programme at its current €80bn ($88.6bn) per month rate past the current March 2017 cutoff , as growth in the euro area remains tentative.

But the fi ve “wise men” – who in fact number one woman among them – warned that the ECB has reduced pressure on govern-ments to reform.

“Even the German government did not suf-fi ciently use the positive economic growth of the past few years for market-oriented re-forms,” council chairman Christoph Schmidt said in a statement.

The experts predicted economic growth for the eurozone of 1.6% in 2016 and 1.4% in 2017.

Beyond the ECB, the experts warned that Britain’s vote to quit the EU in June shows re-form is needed in the 28-member bloc.

“There is cause for concern given the strengthening trend of EU-critical voices in some member states,” they wrote.

Anti-EU sentiment was likely to increase without reform to give voters the feeling that their governments are in control, fi xing the union’s fi nances and addressing transnational challenges like climate change, migration and terrorism, they warned.

But they also defended key pillars of the European project including the “four funda-mental freedoms” on the movement of goods, capital, people and services.

The experts also backed the hotly-contest-ed CETA free trade deal with Canada signed by EU leaders last week, and recommended pressing ahead with a yet more controversial planned US free trade agreement known as TTIP.

At home in Germany, the experts predict-ed growth would slow to 1.3% in 2017 after reaching 1.9% in 2016, “primarily due to cal-endar eff ects”.

They warned the government against in-creasing spending, advising instead that Ber-lin continue to pay down its debts, link the statutory retirement age to life expectancy, and make the labour market more fl exible.

The last suggestion would also help to inte-grate the 900,000 refugees and migrants who arrived in Germany in 2015, the experts noted.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (3rd left) addresses a press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin yesterday as she is handed over the annual report on the country’s economic development by members of the German Council of Economic Experts (from left) Volker Wieland, Peter Bofinger, (Merkel), Christoph M Schmidt (the council’s chairman), Isabel Schnabel and Lars P Feld. The experts also known as the five “wise men” predicted economic growth for the eurozone of 1.6% in 2016 and 1.4% in 2017.

Eurozone Oct factory growth near 3-year high

ReutersLondon

Eurozone manufacturing activity accelerated at its fastest rate in nearly three

years last month, supported by a buoyant performance from Ger-many, while infl ationary pres-sures showed further signs of re-covery, a survey found yesterday.

The fi ndings will make wel-come reading for policymakers at the European Central Bank, who have struggled to get growth and infl ation up despite years of ultra-loose monetary policy.

Markit’s fi nal Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) jumped to a 33-month high of 53.5 from September’s 52.6, ahead of the preliminary fl ash reading of 53.3 and above the 50-mark that sep-arates growth from contraction.

A sub-index measuring out-put, which feeds into a composite PMI due tomorrow that is seen as a good overall growth indica-tor, climbed to 54.6 from 53.8, its highest level since April 2014.

The upturn came even though prices rose for the fi rst time in over a year.

An output price index was at a 16-month high of 50.8, up from 49.9 and its fi rst time above 50 since August last year. “Price pressures are coming up a bit.

We would question whether that is strong enough to lead to a sustained increase in core in-fl ation,” said Stephen Brown at Capital Economics. “It’s posi-tive, the ECB will be happy, but it’s not going to be enough for it to hold off on pulling the trigger in terms of more loosening.”

The ECB left policy unchanged last month but is likely to tweak its asset-purchase programme and announce an extension by year-end, economists polled by Reuters said recently.

Earlier fi gures from Germa-ny, Europe’s largest economy, showed factory growth there was also near a three-year high.

French manufacturing activ-ity expanded at the fastest rate since March 2014.

Spanish growth also acceler-ated, but in Italy manufacturing activity grew at roughly the same listless rate as September, sug-gesting no near-term accelera-tion for its struggling economy.

Italian gross domestic prod-uct expanded 0.7% last year, less than half the rate in the 19-na-tion Eurozone, and the govern-ment of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi forecasts a similar growth rate of 0.8% in 2016.

At Societe Generale, returns from car leasing dwarf bankingBloombergParis

To fi nd Societe Generale’s most profi table business, don’t look to its trading fl oors or executive

suites in Paris or London, but to gritty parking lots in Lyon, Helsinki and Sao Paulo.

France’s No 2 bank, whose mathe-matical prowess made it a world leader in equity derivatives, generates its best returns from a more prosaic business: leasing fl eets of automobiles.

The development of the car-leasing operation and its growing importance to Societe Generale show how some European lenders are looking outside traditional banking as tougher capital requirements and record-low inter-est rates sap returns. BNP Paribas and Banco Santander have also increased their leasing businesses – from cars

to farm equipment to computer sys-tems – to generate profi ts without ty-ing up capital. While profi t is booming, a slump in the market for used vehicles could expose the companies to losses.

“This is currently a plus for banking profi ts,” said Karim Bertoni, who helps manage 6.9bn Swiss francs ($7bn) at Bellevue Asset Management in Swit-zerland.

Societe Generale’s car-leasing unit, ALD, owns and manages 1.3mn cars. It had a return on equity of 34% in the fi rst half, more than twice the level of profi tability at its global markets and French consumer-banking divisions. ALD accounted for almost 9% of the bank’s profi t in the fi rst half of the year, while using only about 1% of its balance sheet at the start of the year.

“That calls to mind pre-crisis equity derivatives returns,” said Jean-Pierre Lambert, a banking analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Ltd in London.

Return on equity will remain at more than 20% in coming years, ac-cording to Didier Hauguel, a member of the bank’s executive committee and co-head of international banking and fi nancial services. In the fi rst half, the business’s €208mn ($228mn) of net income exceeded the profi ts from ad-vising on mergers and fi nancing large clients.

The French lender stepped up its ex-pansion into auto leasing in the early 2000s, after losing the takeover battle for Paribas to Banque Nationale de Par-is. Casting about for paths to growth, it bought units of Deutsche Bank and Hertz Global Holdings in Germany, the UK and elsewhere. In May, Societe Generale spent €300mn to swallow one of France’s top-10 fl eet managers from private-equity fi rm Wendel.

Most of ALD’s revenue comes from the biggest auto markets in Europe, where it’s now the No 2 car lessor for

corporate clients after Volkswagen. It also has operations in Brazil, China and India. All told, it employs more than 5,000 in over 42 countries, and is open to more “bolt-on” acquisitions, said Hauguel.

“There is still a lot of room for growth as more companies decide to outsource their cars,” Hauguel said in an interview at Societe Generale’s headquarters out-side Paris on October 11. “When I meet with CFOs, they see very quickly the gains they can make.”

BNP Paribas’s auto-leasing unit, Arval, has about 1mn vehicles and saw “good growth in all regions” in the third quarter, the bank reported. BNP acquired General Electric Capital Co’s European fleet manager for €1.3bn last year. In 2014, Santander began a joint-venture with PSA Group, maker of Peugeot and Citroen, in 11 coun-tries. Profit at the Spanish bank’s Eu-ropean consumer-finance business,

which includes auto leasing, jumped 20% last quarter. Neither bank breaks out the profitability of the car-leasing businesses.

Auto lessors generate revenue from lease payments, service contracts and the resale of the cars after the leases expire, according to analysts. “This is a profi t machine as long as you know how to value your stock of cars and there’s no shock in the market for used cars,” Lambert said.

The risks can be great if used-car values drop. Amid discounting for new cars about a decade ago, US au-tomakers were hit by billions of dol-lars in charges stemming from over-optimistic values on their stocks of used cars.

For now, leasing is helpful at a time when banking is under pressure. Soci-ete Generale will today probably report a decline in third-quarter net income to €805mn from €1.13bn a year earlier,

according to the average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

The European auto market is still bouncing back after hitting a two-decade low in 2013. Passenger car sales rose by 8% in the fi rst nine months of the year and the volume of September registrations hit a record.

ALD sold almost 260,000 used vehi-cles over the past year, through website auctions and showrooms. Its purchase of more than 300,000 vehicles over that period makes it one of the top fi ve customers for most car manufactur-ers in Europe. It off ers brands includ-ing Audi, BMW, Peugeot, Renault, Volkswagen, Fiat, Opel, Toyota, Ford and Mini, though the make and pricing vary by market.

“It’s a scale business,” said Hauguel. “ALD’s size provides the pricing power to buy and sell cars on the secondary market as well as to optimise rental and maintenance costs.”

German joblessness falls to record low as economy ploughs onBloombergFrankfurt

German unemployment fell more than economists forecast in October, pushing the jobless rate to a fresh record low.The number of people out of work declined by a seasonally adjusted 13,000 to 2.662mn in October, data from the Federal Labour Agency in Nuremberg showed yesterday. Economists in a Bloomberg survey forecast a drop of 1,000. The jobless rate dropped to 6%, the lowest level since the country’s reunification.Measures of manufacturing and business confidence suggest Europe’s largest economy is poised to pick up toward the end of the year, after uncertainty over the UK’s vote to leave the

European Union and weakening global demand caused a temporary slowdown in the third quarter. The Bundesbank said in October that underlying momentum is “still quite strong.”“That number tends to be very volatile, but the trend is important,” said Jens Kramer, an economist at Nord in Hanover. “It shows that unemployment is steadily decreasing while employment is growing, which is a very favourable development for domestic demand and the German economic cycle.”Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predict the German economy expanded 0.3% in the third quarter, after 0.4% in the previous three months. Gross domestic product data are due on November 15.Germany’s central bank has pointed to export and business expectations in manufacturing as signs that the situation could improve in the coming

month. Manufacturing grew at the fastest pace in almost three years in October, according to final data published by IHS Markit yesterday, as companies boosted hiring, partially in response to stronger foreign demand from the US and Asia. “The labour market developed well in October,” Frank-Juergen Weise, president of the labour agency, said in a statement. “Unemployment fell markedly during the autumn revival, employment increased again and demand for new workers continued to rise.”The number of people out of work fell by some 6,000 in western Germany and decreased by about 8,000 in the eastern part of the country, the labour agency said. At the same time, underemployment rose by a seasonally adjusted 11,000 nationwide due to a loosening of labour policies to target refugees, according to the report.

BUSINESSGULF BUSINESS15Gulf Times

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Lufthansa, Ryanair faceoff in Frankfurt battleLufthansa cuts Q4 capacity plans by 1 percentage point; CEO says looking ahead with confidence to 2017; Ryanair to start flying from Frankfurt next summer; Lufthansa shares flat, outperform blue chips

ReutersParis/Frankfurt

Ryanair announced plans to move into Lufthansa’s home hub of Frankfurt, stepping up its push

into bigger airports and ratcheting up pressure on the German carrier which is expanding its own budget fl ights.

Lufthansa said earlier yesterday it would off er fewer seats than planned this quarter as it seeks to off set pres-sure on ticket prices, following on the heels of British Airways owner IAG.

European airlines are grappling with falling fares as carriers, especially low cost ones, put more seats onto the mar-ket to try to take advantage of low fuel prices and gain market share.

Lufthansa has been driving growth at its Eurowings budget brand to com-pete, signing deals with Air Berlin and taking over part-owned Brussels Air-lines.

That will make it Europe’s third larg-est point-to-point carrier next sum-mer, behind Ryanair and easyJet.

Ryanair, meanwhile, has been expand-ing in Germany, where it wants to grow its market share to 20% from 8%, and is expanding at primary airports across Eu-rope in a drive for more passengers and to attract business travellers.

The Irish carrier said it will start fl y-ing from Frankfurt airport, Germany’s largest, from next summer to four tourist destinations in Spain and Por-tugal, with plans for strong growth in winter 2017/18.

Frankfurt airport, operated by Frap-ort, has few low cost carriers due to its high fees and long turnaround times.

Lufthansa has around a 60% market share at Frankfurt.

Historically it has also had close rela-tions with Fraport, in which it owns an 8% stake, but Fraport now plans to off er incentives and adjust the way passen-gers move through the airport to meet the demands of low-cost carriers.

“It’s already an aff ront just to hold a joint Ryanair and Fraport press confer-ence on the same day as the Lufthansa third-quarter results,” fund manager Michael Gierse at Lufthansa investor Union Investment, said.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said

he expected the airline could save up to €300mn ($332.5mn) a year if it were to be off ered the same conditions as Rya-nair and also said it could start Eurow-ings fl ights from Frankfurt.

“That shows Lufthansa won’t take the Ryanair move lying down,” one Frankfurt-based trader said.

Lufthansa is struggling to bring down costs, with strikes at its budget units last week and a deal with its pilots on pay and pensions still outstanding.

Independent aviation consultant John Strickland said Ryanair’s arrival in Frankfurt would have little direct im-

pact on Lufthansa’s network but could help the German carrier underline to unions and staff the need to cut costs on short-haul services.

“At its current cost levels it would not be possible for Eurowings to com-pete profi tably on a head to head ba-sis with Ryanair should that scenario arise,” Strickland said.

Ryanair currently fl ies to Frankfurt-Hahn airport, which is around 120km (75 miles) from the city — prompting mockery from Lufthansa on Twitter yesterday: “Welcome to the real Frank-furt airport, dear Ryanair. In case you

get lost on such a big airport, just give us a call!”

Germany’s biggest airline now ex-pects capacity growth of 8.7% in the fourth quarter, taking a further 1 per-centage point off previous plans.

That takes its total growth for 2016 to 5.2%, from a previous 5.4%.

Ryanair can aff ord to add more seats to the market than its older rivals be-cause of its low cost base and busi-ness model, whereby it fi lls planes ir-respective of ticket price to minimise passenger costs and boost spending on extras.

“Anyone can produce a low fare, pro-ducing a low fare with a margin is the trick,” Ryanair’s chief commercial of-fi cer David O’Brien said at a conference last week.

Lufthansa said capacity growth next year will be 3% for its network airlines and 20% at Eurowings, for a total of 4 to 5%. Spohr said he expected the decline in unit revenues to slow next year, confi rming a forecast for a drop of 7-8% in the fourth quarter. Lufthansa’s shares were down 0.3%, slightly out-performing German blue chips after it also signalled restraint on spending.

A Ryanair plane stands in front of a Lufthansa aircraft in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany. Ryanair said it will start flying from Frankfurt airport from next summer to four tourist destinations in Spain and Portugal, sparking outrage among German competitors.

Fed holds rates steady, sets stage for Dec hike

ReutersWashington

The Federal Reserve kept inter-

est rates unchanged yesterday

in its last policy decision before

the US election, but signalled it

could hike in December as the

economy gathers momentum

and inflation picks up.

The US central bank’s rate-

setting committee said the

economy had gained steam and

job gains remained solid.

Fed policymakers also

expressed more optimism that

inflation was moving toward

their 2% target.

“The committee judges

that the case for an increase

in the federal funds rate has

continued to strengthen but

decided, for the time being, to

wait for some further evidence

of continued progress toward

its objectives,” the Fed said in a

statement following a two-day

policy meeting.

That suggests the bar ap-

pears low for a rate increase at

the final policy meeting of the

year in mid-December.

The Fed’s increasing confi-

dence that prices were moving

higher was reflected in its view

that “inflation has increased

somewhat since earlier this

year” and the removal of its

previous reference to inflation

remaining low in the near term.

Kansas City Fed President Es-

ther George and Cleveland Fed

President Loretta Mester dis-

sented in yesterday’s decision in

favour of an immediate hike.

They were among three

policymakers who dissented

at the last meeting. The policy

decision came less than a week

before an increasingly uncer-

tain presidential election.

Investors had all but dis-

counted a move this week, but

overwhelmingly see the Fed rais-

ing borrowing costs next month.

In September, Fed Chair

Janet Yellen said that a move

before year’s end was likely as

long as US employment and in-

flation continued to strengthen.

Since then, job gains have

continued at a solid rate and in-

flation has ticked higher, putting

both close to the Fed’s long-run

targets. The economy also has

gained momentum, growing at

a 2.9% annual pace in the third

quarter after a fairly sluggish

first half.

The Fed has held its target rate

for overnight lending between

banks in a range of 0.25% to

0.50% since last December, when

it raised borrowing costs for the

first time in nearly a decade.

Jaguar, armed with SUV, leads growth in stalling US auto marketBloombergSouthfield, Michigan

As auto-sales growth has slowed this year in the US, the biggest gainers have been smaller lux-

ury brands with new SUV off erings. Exhibit A: Jaguar, the elegant British line known traditionally for its sports cars and sedans.

With the timely addition of its F-Pace sport utility vehicle as well as its XE compact luxury sedan and clever marketing initiatives, Jaguar has drawn in more, new and younger customers. Sales in October more than tripled, and for the year, they’ve reached 23,568, up 93%, the most among brands tracked by Autodata Corp.

Jaguar is hardly alone in cashing in on the SUV craze. Sister brand Land Rover, which specialises in body-on-frame luxury utilities, is up 7.8%. Vol-vo, best known for its XC90 crossover, has increased sales 20%, according to Wards. And Tesla Motors, which added the Model X electric SUV to its lineup this year, grew about 78%

through September, according to Au-todata’s estimate. Tesla doesn’t re-lease monthly results.

“The winners you called out, they all have a truck component to their business,” Mike Jackson, chief ex-ecutive offi cer of dealership owner AutoNation, said last week in an in-terview.

Those smaller brands with new SUV models are narrowing the sales gap — at least a little bit — with the top three brands, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Toyota Motor Corp’s Lexus, which have all contracted this year.

“If you take the Germans, at the end of the day they were car companies,” said Jackson, a former sales executive with Mercedes-Benz USA. They’ve reacted as best they can to give con-sumers the SUVs that they want, but they also “need to reduce car produc-tion — and that’s tough.”

Sales of Daimler’s Mercedes luxury vehicles — excluding work trucks and Smart cars — slipped 0.4% through October to 277,863 — expanding its lead over Lexus, which slid 4.7% to 260,996. BMW’s namesake brand de-clined 9% to 254,150.

Last month, with two fewer selling days than October 2015, BMW sales dropped 18%, Lexus slid 6.2% and Mercedes declined just 1%. BMW’s results exclude the company’s Mini line.

Despite the setbacks, those brands remain far bigger than Jaguar and Land Rover, which together may top 100,000 US sales this year for the fi rst time since 2002.

Concerns that demand in the US has peaked have been weighing on auto stocks around the world. But Tata Motors, which bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Co in 2008, is tearing it up. Even with tur-bulence at the parent Tata Group, the automaker’s shares are up 36% this year through yesterday. Most global automaker stocks are down, except for SAIC, the Chinese partner of com-panies such as GM and Volkswagen.

Jaguar Land Rover is the heart of Mumbai-based Tata Motors, provid-ing 82% of its sales and 86% of op-erating income. Tata, famous for its super-cheap Nano car, has mostly left the luxury-vehicle business in the hands of industry veterans and given

them tremendous support, said Joe Eberhardt, head of Jaguar Land Rov-er’s North American operations.

“They’ve been great stewards of the company of the brands,” he said. “They understand the importance of brands, and they have let the manage-ment of Jaguar Land Rover do what’s needed to compete in the market.”

In addition to expanding the prod-uct line — more announcements are coming, Eberhardt said — Jaguar has gone after new customers with crea-tive marketing. Its villain-themed Good to Be Bad ads have evolved into a British Intelligence motif with the latest off ering, which features physi-cist Stephen Hawking.

The brand has also won over young-er customers through its Art of Per-formance campaign, Eberhardt said, which puts potential customers into 2-minute action-fi lm videos they can share online. Ninety percent of XE and F-Pace buyers are new to the brand, which now has 12% of custom-ers under 35.

“They don’t want to be talked to or communicated to,” he said. “They want to be a part of the experience.”

The Jaguar Land Rover Automotive 2017 F-Pace sports utility vehicle is displayed during the Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2015. With the timely addition of F-Pace as well as its XE compact luxury sedan and clever marketing initiatives, Jaguar has drawn in more, new and younger customers.

US keeps longer-term debt sales at $62bn this quarterBloombergWashington

The US Treasury said it will maintain at $62bn the issuance of longer-term debt for the fourth straight quarter and will address any changes in seasonal borrowing needs with auctions of short-term securities.The department will sell $24bn in three-year notes on November 8, $23bn in 10-year notes on November 9 and $15bn in 30-year bonds on November 10, it said yesterday in its quarterly refunding announcement. That’s unchanged from the previous three quarters. The auctions will raise

about $3.5bn in new cash, it said. “Treasury plans to address changes in any seasonal borrowing needs over the next quarter through changes in regular bill auction sizes and/or cash management bills,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets Daleep Singh said in a statement. The Treasury this quarter will carry out another small buyback operation to test its infrastructure, he added.The refunding is the Treasury’s announcement of longer-term debt sales. The department also auctions bills monthly and weekly to raise money to fund the government, which has spent more than it brought in every fiscal year since 2002.The Treasury Department said last month that the

fiscal gap widened to $587bn in 2016, marking the first time the deficit has increased in relation to economic output since 2009, when the recession ended. With an ageing population, costs are increasing for health care, especially Medicare, as well as Social Security, while the government is also facing the prospect of higher financing expenses from rising interest rates.Measured as a share of gross domestic product, the deficit widened to 3.2% in the year through September 30, from 2.5% a year earlier. The Congressional Budget Off ice in August projected a shortfall of $594bn for the 2017 fiscal year.The Treasury plans a cash balance of $390bn at the end of December, according to borrowing

estimates released on Monday. The cash buff er is expected to decline to $100bn by the end of March, as a debt-limit extension expires at the middle of that month and lawmakers will need to negotiate raising or extending Treasury’s borrowing authority.“A new president in 2017 will undoubtedly seek to enact new programs, which will probably lead to looser, not tighter, fiscal policy at a time when budget deficits are already posed to explode,” Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities, said in a note before the refunding announcement. Stanley sees borrowing needs accelerating, “necessitating across-the-board increases in auction sizes.”

“The committee judges that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has continued to strengthen but decided, for the time being, to wait for some further evidence of continued progress toward its objectives”

BUSINESSThursday, November 3, 2016

GULF TIMES

Local debt market key to Qatar’s infrastructure development: SeetharamanThe low oil prices may “af-

fect” diversifi cation and mega projects develop-

ment funding, thus making local debt market a crucial solution for Qatar’s infrastructure devel-opment needs, which will prove positive for private sector, ac-cording to Doha Bank.

“A local debt market can fa-cilitate the sterilisation of large capital infl ows. It provides tools for the government to fi nance large fi scal defi cits,” Doha Bank group chief executive Dr R Seetharaman told a conference, jointly organised by Qatar Fi-nancial Markets Authority and International Capital Market Association.

The developing of local debt instruments not only promotes market discipline and transpar-ency through improving the quality and disclosure of in-formation, but also enhances fi nancial stability by having a more diverse fi nancial system, he said.

Highlighting that the contin-ued investment in infrastruc-ture and other developmental projects increases the need for new sources of funding with long-term maturities; he said this can be partially addressed through the issuance of long-term debt instruments.

“The low oil prices may aff ect diversifi cation and infrastruc-ture development funding and hence debt is the ideal solution for Qatar’s infrastructure de-velopment needs,” according to him.

Qatar has one of the widest range of maturities as compared to international issuances of other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries, he said.

“Given this edge, the Qatari companies can benchmark the

yield curve through debt issu-ances and benefit from lower interest rates,” Seetharaman said, adding the wider range of maturities not only allows to benchmark but also benefits the companies to align with any mismatch in asset-liability.

Qatar remains an attractive destination for debt investors on account of its strong credit rating at “AA”. A higher credit

rating of “AA” implies zero risk weight and 100% in liquidity coverage ratio.

“Given the climate change, resource scarcity and water dis-tress; Green bonds can be con-sidered as an option. The GCC banks can tap long term funds to fi nance the Green projects,” he suggested.

There should also be appro-priate reforms to existing bank-

ruptcy laws in Qatar to ensure adequate investor protection, he said, adding further, Qatar may improve the effi ciency of settling disputes by aligning arbitra-tion regulation to international standards.

On the GCC bond market, Seetharaman said the region witnessed issuances exceeding $65bn this year with conven-tional debts exceeding $55bn.

The major conventional bond issuances came from Saudi Arabia at $17.5bn, Qa-tar at $9bn, Abu Dhabi at $5bn and QNB at $5.16bn, he high-lighted.

The GCC sukuk bond issues exceeded $10bn this year and among the major issuances are DP World ($1.2bn), Investment Corporation of Dubai ($1bn) and Bahrain ($1bn).

Seetharaman speaking at the conference. “The low oil prices may aff ect diversification and infrastructure development funding and hence debt is the ideal solution for Qatar’s infrastructure development needs,” he said.

QNB-SWIFT forum showcases corporate banking solutions

QNB, the country’s larg-est lender, is eyeing top corporate clients in a

big way through its cash man-agement solutions and off er-ing from its partner SWIFT, the world’s leading provider of secure fi nancial messaging services.

In this regard, QNB, in as-sociation with SWIFT, recently held a corporate forum in Doha; showcasing its corporate bank-ing solutions such as e-Busi-ness online banking, corporate credit cards and electronic cheques clearing (ECC) system services, which allow clients to perform their business banking remotely, while maintaining maximum security.

High-level QNB representa-tives attended the forum to exchange ideas and share best practices. Delegates heard from top corporate offi cials in Qatar about their cash management and transaction banking re-quirements and needs.

SWIFT experts provided an overview of its offerings for corporates. It provides a single communication chan-nel for corporates to exchange financial information with all their domestic and global banks, which allows corpora-tions to gain value from ad-ditional global visibility and maximum efficiency from their financial and treasury operations.

Through the connection with SWIFT, they are able to collect and achieve greater automation through standardisation, its of-fi cial said.

The event is part of QNB’s continuous eff ort to inform cli-ents about cash management and transaction banking prod-ucts and services off ered by the bank and SWIFT. It also pro-vides the opportunity for open dialogue allowing both sides to improve and ensure that their products and services meet all their clients’ needs.

The corporate forum conducted by QNB in association with SWIFT in progress.

Ahlibank launches cybercrime awareness videosAhlibank has launched a series of cybercrime awareness videos on the bank’s website, www.ahlibank.com.qa, and sent them via SMS to customers.With increasing levels of online activity, Alhlibank said users are more susceptible to cybercrime. The cybercrime awareness videos provide tips about safeguarding customer’s personal information while browsing and carrying out financial transactions online. Ahlibank CEO Salah Murad said: “With advancing technology across our business and personal lives, we spend more and more time online on our devices browsing, shopping, banking, and messaging. And with increased cyber threats faced, customers need to be aware, educated, and alert about the dangers of cybercrime, which can cause financial losses to individuals and our economy. “As an integral part of the community, Ahlibank has launched a series of cybercrime awareness videos to our customers highlighting the risks and tips to avoid being a victim of cybercrime. The security of our customer’s personal information and financial transactions is our priority and we ensure it stays secure and safe.”Murad added: “We are grateful to the eff orts of the Qatar Central Bank in leading information security initiatives through the implementation of relevant policies and procedures to protect against cybercrime. We are proud to have sponsored the ‘3rd Annual Information Security Conference for the Financial Sector’, organised by the Qatar Central Bank.”

Ahlibank’s cybercrime awareness videos provide tips about safeguarding customer’s personal information while browsing and carrying out financial transactions online.

Ezdan Hotels bags 2 medals at ‘Hospitality Qatar 2016’

Ezdan Hotels Company, one of Ezdan Holding Group subsidi-aries, has won two bronze med-

als in two diff erent cooking categories in the Salon Culinaire’s global com-petition held during the Hospitality Qatar 2016 Exhibition.

The three-day contest included 17 diff erent categories aimed at testing the participating teams and their ca-pacities in preparing a diverse variety of dishes and cuisines. The contests attracted the most talented chefs in the world such as Malaysia, Thailand, South Africa, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

Ezdan said the event was “a great opportunity” not only to compete, but also to demonstrate skills of chefs and participating teams and their art of presenting special products that characterise each team.

Ezdan Hotels general manager Ha-sib Kayali said: “Ezdan chefs team has won, which made us feel proud, as they were keen to shine the spotlight on Ezdan Hotels branding by demon-strating their special talents in diverse culinary arts, showing their dedica-tion to prepare delicious varieties of dishes and cuisine specialities. This is our trademark at our hotels, a fl agship of excellence and that is why we won two medals, a well-deserved win by

our dedicated team.” Kayali stressed that Ezdan Hotels is eager to partici-pate in various local and international gatherings “with great interest” to showcase its potential in various ho-tel areas. He pointed out that the ex-hibition was “a unique platform” to introduce Ezdan Hotels and attract audience from around the world, and to let them know about the unique products that distinguishes the Ezdan chain of hotels from others.

He also added that the importance

of the contest was an opportunity to enhance Ezdan team’s culinary skills and to exchange experiences in this fi eld with the other competitors, as well as gain more expertise to be a key player in similar events.

Ezdan Hotels also participated in the Qatar International Food Fes-tival held in April at the Museum of Islamic Art Park through a dedi-cated pavilion, off ering a wide range of some dishes and attracting more than 3,000 visitors.

Members of the Ezdan culinary team at work during the competition.

Qatar Airways wins 3 honours at Travel Weekly Magellan AwardsQatar Airways received three honours at the

2016 Travel Weekly Magellan Awards held in

New York recently.

Gold, the highest honour, was awarded to

Qatar Airways for its International Business

Class experience on the A350 aircraft, and Sil-

ver was awarded for its International Economy

Class as well as its A350 and Going Places

Together brand campaign, the airline said in a

press statement.

Qatar Airways was the global launch

customer of the Airbus A350 and currently

operates 12 in its fleet of more than 190 aircraft.

Qatar Airways was the first to fly the A350 to

three continents, and currently operates the

aircraft from Doha to Boston, New York, and

Philadelphia in the US.

Qatar Airways’ Business Class has received

many accolades this year, including Best Busi-

ness Class from Business Traveller Awards,

Skytrax’s World’s Best Business Class 2016 and

Best Business Class Airline Lounge. The airline

will introduce a new Business Class concept in

the first quarter of 2017.

Similarly, the airline has been recognised for

its Economy Class experience, which features

the Oryx One on-demand entertainment sys-

tem with up to 3,000 choices, an international

menu with up to 22 special dietary requests

available and curated children’s kits for the

youngest travellers.

Qatar Airways introduced its new brand

campaign — Going Places Together — in New

York in December 2015 to rave reviews, cul-

minating with this most recent Travel Weekly

Magellan Silver Award, the statement added.

Qatar Airways Senior vice-president of

marketing and corporate communications,

Salam al-Shawa, said: “We are thrilled to be

honoured by the panel of experts gathered

by Travel Weekly, and are deeply appreciative

of this recognition by our industry’s experts.

Qatar Airways brand campaign, Going Places

Together, reflects the attitude we bring to the

travel experience — we want to be part of our

passengers’ journey, to experience the trans-

formative power of travel with them. It is truly

an honour to be recognised by your peers, and

I extend my congratulations to the other award

winners this year.”

From design to marketing and services,

the Travel Weekly Magellan Awards honours

the best in travel and salutes the outstanding

travel professionals behind it all. Gold was awarded to Qatar Airways for its International Business Class experience on the A350 aircraft.