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QIB wins 'Best Islamic Bank in Qatar' award

BUSINESSBUSINESSHong Kong's

Finance Chief resigns

Tuesday 13 December 2016

Dow & Brent before going to press

Mohammad Shoeb The Peninsula

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has announced to invest $ 3 5 b n ( a b o u t QR127.45bn) in the US

over the next five years (2016-21). This was announced yesterday at the ‘Second Annual Economic and Investment Dia-logue (EID) between Qatar and the United States’ held at Sher-aton Hotel Doha.

The series of meetings were co-chaired by the Minister of Finance, H E Ali Sherif Al Emadi, and the US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Busi-ness Affairs Charles Rivkin.

Both sides discussed host of issues and recent successes in the US-Qatar economic partnership, including the expansion of QIA’s office in New York; lifting of a ban on US poultry imports into Qatar; US Federal Energy Regu-latory Commission approval to commence construction on the Qatar Petroleum-ExxonMobil Golden Pass LNG project;

continued refinement and enhancements of the US visa application process; the estab-lishment of a Global Entry facility at Hamad International Airport; new aviation passenger safety bilateral agreements; and the Sister City Agreement between Doha and Los Angeles signed in November 2016.

Finance Minister Al Emadi, said: “It has been a pleasure to host our American colleagues here in Doha and make progress on a number of vital bilateral issues. Our close economic ties reflect the broader partnership between our nations, and I look forward to seeing this relation-ship continue to deepen during

2017.” The talks brought together key decision-makers to identify additional ways to bolster finan-cial, economic, and investment relations, and build on momen-tum generated by last year’s EID.

The US and Qatar enjoy a robust and growing economic and commercial partnership. Bilateral trade is expected to exceed $7.5bn in 2016, and Qatar is among the top four markets in the Middle East for US exports of goods and services.

Assistant Secretary Rivkin highlighted the importance of continued communication cou-pled with concrete follow-up actions, noting the robust and enduring bilateral diplomatic ties between Qatar and the US served as a foundation for boosting bilateral trade and investment and removing barriers to entry.

The Qatar delegation con-sisted of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Economy and Commerce, Transportation and Communications, Municipality and Environment, Health, and Education and Higher Education, as well as the QIA, Qatar

Foundation, Qatar Airways, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Central Bank, Ooredoo, Qatar Financial Center, the Supreme Committee for Legacy and Delivery of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and the Public Works Authority (Ashghal).

The US delegation, in addi-tion to Assistant Secretary Rivkin, included Assistant Secretary of

State for Near Eastern Affairs Anne W Patterson, US Ambassa-dor to Qatar, Dana Shell Smith, a team from the Department of Commerce led by Deputy Direc-tor General of the US Foreign Commercial Service Judy Reinke, Treasury Deputy Assistant Sec-retary Eric Meyer, other officials from the Department of State, including the US Embassy in

Doha, and a representative of the US Trade Representative (USTR). On the sidelines of the EID, a US business delegation led by the US Chamber of Commerce met with Qatari leaders, including the Minister of Economy and Com-merce, H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani and the Minister of Energy and Industry, H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada.

London

Reuters

Oil prices surged to their highest since mid-2015 yesterday after the

world's top crude producers agreed to the first joint output cut since 2001.

Coming at the start of a week when the United States is expected to raise interest rates for the only the second time since the global financial crisis, the weekend agreement between the Organisation of

Petroleum Exporting Countries and key non-Opec states set the markets alive.

Brent oil futures soared 5 percent to top $57 a barrel for the first time since July 2015 and US crude leapt above $54 a barrel to send global inflation gauges spiking as well.

There was particular sur-prise as Saudi Arabia, the world's number one producer, said it may cut its output even more than it had first suggested at an OPEC meeting just over a week ago.

The Peninsula

The Qatari Islamic banks saw their lending grow 7.2 percent in 1H16 (first half

of 2016), outpacing the 6.5 per-cent growth at conventional banks (excluding Qatar National Bank’s (QNB) acquisition of Fin-ansbank A.S.in Turkey), mainly due to higher retail and real estate financing, said Fitch yesterday.

Islamic banks accounted for 25.2 percent of total financing at end-1H16, against

25 percent at end-2015 (including Finansbank under QNB, the share was 23 percent at end-1H16). Appetite is growing for Islamic financing and sharia-complaint services from retail and corporate however, growth is expected to have slowed in 2016 (for Islamic and conventional banks) due to reduced hydrocarbon revenues and government spending.

Fitch expects profitability to remain healthy, but margins to be under pressure from tighter

market liquidity, which will increase banks’ funding costs.

The average Islamic bank impaired loan ratio was 1.1 percent at end-1H16, lower than the conventional bank average of 2.1 percent, due to high growth in financing. However, asset quality is expected to weaken with slower growth and seasoning of the financing book. All banks have high exposure to real estate and contracting, which has deteriorated due to delays in government payments to contractors.

THE QATAR Financial Cen-tre (QFC) Authority, in association with Bloomberg, conducted a session on Tech-nical Analysis at the W hotel in Doha.

The session which attracted business and finan-cial professionals from Qatar’s private sector aimed to edu-cate participants on investment and trading opportunities across Middle East and North Africa (MENA) equities from a relative strength standpoint, which is a methodology based on iden-tifying future outperformers and underperformers against a widely used benchmark.

At the heart of the presen-tation was the increasingly popular concept of Relative Rotation Graphs or RRG as devised by Julius De Kempa-naer as also several idea generation tools that market participants can use on the Bloomberg terminal to screen for opportunities on the back of custom criteria most rele-vant to their workflow. “These sessions come as part of a series of sessions we will be conducting for our firms and the financial sector as a whole throughout 2017,” saidRaed Al-Emadi, Chief Commercial Officer at the QFC Authority.

The Peninsula

The inaugural Gulf Indian Excellence Awards were held at the Hyatt Regency

Dubai Creek Heights on Sunday. The event recognised lead-

ing successful Indian Business Leaders in the region who have made a mark in their sectors and have shown exceptional ability in their areas of excellence.

In recognition of his success-ful growth as a business leader across various sectors around the region, Adeeb Ahamed,

Managing Director, Lulu Exchange and MD, Twenty14 Holdings was honoured with the Global Business Leader Award.

Other winners in this cate-gory included MA Yusuff Ali, MD, Lulu Group International, BR Shetty, Chairman, NMC Health-care, Thumbay Moideen, President, Thumbay Group, Mickey Jagtiani, Chairman, Land-mark Group and Joy Alukkas, Chairman, Joy Alukkas, among others. Adeeb Ahamed is a mul-tifaceted professional who began his journey in the region with the

setting up of Lulu Exchange, a reputed financial services company.

After successfully establish-ing LuLu Exchange with more than 130 branches across the globe within seven years, Adeeb went on to setup Twenty14 Hold-ings, a hospitality investment firm which owns prestigious proper-ties around the world including the Great Scotland Yard in Lon-don, Steigenberger Hotel Business Bay in Dubai and the Sheraton Oman Hotel in Muscat, among others.

Lulu Exchange official wins Global Business Leader Award

QIA to invest $35bn in US over next five years

Qatari Islamic banking growth outpace conventional banks

Strengthening ties

The ‘Second Annual Economic and Investment Dialogue (EID) between Qatar and the United States’ was held yesterday at Sheraton Hotel Doha.

Minister of Finance H E Ali Sherif Al Emadi (fifth left), Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, U S Department of State, Anne Patterson (right), US Ambassador to Qatar, Dana Shell Smith and other dignitaries at the Second Annual EID at Sheraton Hotel Doha. Pic:Salim Matramkot/ The Peninsula

QFC conducts Technical Analysis session

Oil surges to 18-month high

Adeeb Ahamed (third left) receiving the award.

$53.18 $53.18 +1.68+1.68

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Hala Azzam, Gulf Air Manager Emergency Response Planning, chaired The Arab Air Carriers’ Organization (AACO) Emergency Response Planning Steering Committee held at the Egypt Air Crisis Management Center recently.

Gulf Air chairs AACO members' meeting

22 TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2016BUSINESS

The newly recruited Qatari talent posing for a group photo with HSBC officials.

QIB wins 'Best Islamic Bank in Qatar' awardThe Peninsula

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Qatar’s leading Islamic Bank, has been named the 'Best Islamic Bank in Qatar'

by the World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC) Performance Awards, on December 6 in Bahrain.

The award, which was received by Mashaal Al Derham, QIB’s Assistant General Manager of Communications & Quality Assurance, recognises QIB’s con-tinuous growth and impact on the Islamic banking industry. Earlier this year, QIB recorded a profit of QR1.6bn for the nine-month period that ended September 30th, 2016 represent-ing a growth of 14 percent over the same period of 2015.

The WIBC Performance Awards are based on the WIBC Leader board, a comprehensive

performance benchmark frame-work. Each bank receives an aggregate ranking based on the weighted scores of multiple met-rics across three major areas of performance: Financial results, Financial stability and Govern-ance and Social responsibility. All data is collated from the ICD Thomson Reuters Islamic Finance Development Indicator

and Bankscope. “We are pleased with this achievement which is another testimonial of QIB’s position as a leading financial institution,” said Bassel Gamal (pictured), QIB’s Group CEO.

“The award and our positive results are achieved through the effective support of our Board of Directors, the hard work of each QIB employee and of course thanks to the continuous trust of our valued customers. As one of the leading banks in Qatar, we will continue to strive to offer our customers safe, convenient and tailored services and work hard to be constantly ready to meet all their existing and future financial needs.”

Among other parameters, QIB was chosen as the best per-forming Islamic Bank in Qatar based on its growth in 2016 and its participation in projects sup-porting the country’s economic development. As a leading bank

in the local retail banking mar-ket, QIB has increased its market share in individuals’ financing and deposits through introduc-ing new financial products & services and improving customer service at branches and its dig-ital channels.

“QIB is honoured to be rec-ognised from a well-regarded organisation as WIBC for our on-going efforts to demonstrate

quality and consistency in every aspect of our day-to-day serv-ice provision” added Bassel Gamal.

The WIBC has established its reputation as the world’s largest and longest running platform for global Islamic Banking and Finance Leaders for over 23 years. After a successful intro-duction of the first of its kind assessment tool for Islamic banks

in 2015, WIBC 2016 enhanced the framework to include additional key performance indicators which reflect the expectations of a l l banking industry stakeholders.

In April 2016, Fitch Ratings affirmed QIB’s Long Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'A+' with a Stable Outlook reflecting the Bank's established franchise in Qatar.

This rating demonstrates QIB’s sound asset quality, solid funding and liquidity profile with a franchise that is more diversi-fied than that of many peers and taking into account the Bank's adequate profitability, and sat-isfactory capital and leverage ratios. Standard & Poor’s Rating Services also retained QIB’s Counterparty Credit Rating at 'A-' and Capital Intelligence reaf-firmed QIB’s financial strength rating of ‘A’ with stable outlook.

Best performance

The award was based on QIB's growth in 2016 and its participation in projects supporting Qatar's development.

QIB recorded a profit of QR1.6bn for the nine-month period that ended September 30, 2016.

The Peninsula

Nadia Al Khater, Jassem Al Saigal, Yousef Al Rayes, Halema Al Harbi and

Fahad Al Khater joined HSBC Qatar as part of the Graduates Programme. The programme is tailored to identify and develop local talent as future leaders in the banking and finance industry.

“Our approach to national-isation is in line with the Qatar

National Vision 2030 and is a priority for HSBC in Qatar. We strive to invest in local talent and develop Qataris as future leaders in HSBC,” said Abdul Hakeem Mostafawi, CEO of HSBC in Qatar. “The five candi-dates that were recruited for the Graduates programme are exceptional talents and we are thrilled to welcome them as part of our team,” he added.

The Graduates programme spans 18 to 24 months and

includes extensive on-the-job training with opportunities to work in different business areas within the bank. The new recruits will also have mentors within the business who will guide them and support their personal and career development. The cur-rent recruits started their training with a three day induction in the UK. During this time they were introduced to the company’s val-ues structure, business conduct and strategy.

The Peninsula

Deploying smart grids can help Qatari economy diversify from oil and

gas, said a latest report by a management and technology consulting and engineering services firm.

As Qatar looks towards attaining its National Vision 2030, developing smart cities and harnessing alternative sources of energy production, the Solar Smart-Grid Project launched by the Qatar Founda-tion (QF) is paving the way for the adoption of solar power as a key energy source for the country. The utilities sector has historically under-invested in

information technology (IT), but an increasing number of utility companies in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region are waking up to the benefits of smart technology – particularly smartgrids, found the report by Booz Allen Hamilton.

The report titled: ‘Switched On: How Mena Can Build Smart Grid Success’, states that cus-tomising smart grid strategies to suit an organization’s objectives and mitigate challenges, while focusing on business transfor-mation will determine the successful adoption of smart grids in Qatar. Smart grids are a convergence of the electric power, communications and IT i n d u s t r i e s , b u i l t o n

the foundations of advanced metering infrastructure, or AMI—an integrated system that enables two-way communica-tion between utilities and their customers. Using a blend of clas-sic electric grid with information, communication and control technologies, smart grids help utilities companies overcome many of the operating and cus-tomer service obstacles that stand in their way, thus deliver-ing results for both companies and consumers.

The result is greater control over the production, transmis-sion, distribution and retail of electricity, as well as increased efficiency along with the reduced consumption and cost.

Smart grids can help Qatari economy diversify: Report

Five Qatari recruits join HSBC's 'Graduates Programme'

23TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2016 BUSINESS

Bahrain LNG closes $741m syndicated loan BAHRAIN LNG, the developer of the Gulf state’s receiving and regasification terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG), has closed a $741m syndicated loan for the platform’s construction, according to a company statement yesterday.

“The project is being developed to supplement local gas production in Bahrain and ensure capacity to meet peak seasonal gas demand and industrial growth,” the statement said.

While the Gulf region is known for its large oil reserves, countries including Saudi Ara-bia and Bahrain have struggled to keep up with demand for gas and have been searching for a way to address the issue, which has crimped eco-nomic development.

Standard Chartered, Arab Petroleum Invest-ments Corp (APICORP), and Korea Development Bank were the institu-tions leading the limited recourse project financ-ing, which was provided by nine international and regional lenders.

Airbus team in Iran to finalise plane dealAIRBUS DELEGATES have arrived in Tehran for talks aimed at final-ising a deal to sell around 100 planes, an Iranian official said yesterday. The representatives of the European aerospace giant arrived on Sunday just hours after national carrier Iran Air concluded a $16.6bn deal with US firm Boeing to buy 80 planes.

"An Airbus delegation has arrived in Tehran," said Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, deputy minister for transport. "We have started negotiations and if there are no problems, we will sign the agree-ment within a week for the purchase of around 100 planes," he said.

Meanwhile, some conservatives in Iran reacted angrily to news of the deal with Boeing, which comes at a time when lawmakers in Washington have recently voted for renewed sanc-tions on the country.

China's car sales peak in NovemberAUTO SALES IN China, the world's biggest car market and crucial to manufacturers world-wide, reached a new peak in November, data from an industry group showed yesterday. Sales reached 2.94m units last month, up 16.6 percent year-on-year, the China Association of Auto-mobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said in a state-ment. Both production and sales set a "record high" in November, the state-ment said. Total auto sales in the first 11 months reached 24.9m, CAAM data showed, exceeding the figure for the whole of 2015.

NEWS BYTES

Dubai

Reuters

Abu Dhabi has signed the United Arab Emirates’ second hyperloop feasibil-ity study to build a

futuristic high-speed transport system connecting the cities of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.

Abu Dhabi’s Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport (DMAT) and US-based Hyper-l o o p T r a n s p o r t a t i o n Technologies (HyperloopTT) announced the agreement, which follows a similar study signed in Dubai last month.

Dubai’s Road & Transport Authority (RTA) and US-based Hyperloop One, a rival to HyperloopTT, agreed on November 8 to explore routes between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

A hyperloop uses magnets to levitate pods inside an air-less tube, creating conditions in which the pods can shuttle peo-ple and freight at speeds of up to 750 miles (1,200km) per hour. The unproven technol-ogy is proposed as a replacement to existing rail infrastructure.

The UAE has put on hold plans to build its own national rail network after neighbour-ing Gulf countries fell behind on their rail projects that were supposed to link the six states

from Kuwait to Oman.A hyperloop route could

connect Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in eight to 12 minutes, accord-ing to a joint DMAT and HyperloopTT statement. This compares to the two hours it takes by car today.

The statement said it was “the only initiative of its kind that has the support of the gov-ernment of Abu Dhabi.”

Hyperloop One is also exploring a route in Dubai con-necting the emirate’s Expo site for when it hosts the world’s fair in 2020, Creative Director Colin Rhys was quoted as saying by local newspaper Gulf News on Monday. However, Rhys later told Reuters he was quoted out of context and that Hyperloop One was not considering an Expo route.

Milan

Reuters

Italian energy company Eni has agreed to sell a 30 per-cent stake in a giant Egyptian

offshore gas field to Russia’s Rosneft for $1.575bn, pressing ahead with asset sales to fund investment amid weak oil prices.

Eni, which currently owns 90 percent of the Shorouk con-cession containing the giant Zohr gas field, said Rosneft would pay $1.125bn cash for the

stake and would reimburse investments already carried out by Eni for around $450m.

Rosneft also has an option to buy a further 5 percent stake.

Selling down stakes in oil and gas fields it operates is part of Eni’s so-called “dual explo-ration” strategy to raise cash to fund future development and support dividends. In the last four years, Eni has raised about $6.3bn in this way.

Eni, whose cash flow fell 19 percent in the third quarter due to low oil prices, has pledged to

sell ¤5bn of assets in the next two years. Zohr, discovered by Eni in 2015, is the biggest gas field ever found in the Mediter-ranean with an estimated 850 billion cubic metres of gas in place.

The approval process for development of the field was completed in February and first gas is expected by the end of 2017.

In November, Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi said he wanted to cut the firm’s stake in Zohr to 50 percent.

Abu Dhabi

Reuters

Saudi Arabia’s main state grain importer, the Saudi Grains Organisation

(SAGO), said yesterday it had bought 725,000 tonnes of hard wheat. A tender closed on Fri-day for 715,000 tonnes of wheat with 12.5 percent protein for delivery February 1 to April 10.

SAGO said the accepted ori-gins were from the European Union, North and South Amer-ica and Australia, at the seller’s option. Traders said they expected part of the purchase to be sourced in the United States. “I think the US is look-ing pretty competitive to Saudi

Arabia, a high quality destina-tion,” one European trader said. “I do not expect Australia to be a source.” The shipments will be in 12 consignments & will be distributed to three Saudi Ara-bian Sea ports, Ahmed Al Fares, governor of SAGO, said in a statement. Of the total, 430,000 tonnes will go to Jeddah, 240,000 tonnes to Dammam

Ankara

AFP

The Turkish economy shrank by nearly two per-cent in the third quarter as

consumer spending and exports plunged, data showed yester-day, the first year-on-year contraction in 27 quarters since 2009.

The Turkish Statistics Office said gross domestic product (GDP) fell 1.8 percent compared with the same period in 2015 causing an immediate fall in the lira. The contraction follows weaker consumer spending which the office said decreased by 3.2 percent in the last quar-ter while exports of goods and services fell by 7.0 percent.

The release is one of the

strongest signs yet that political instability in the aftermath of the July 15 coup bid is affecting con-sumer confidence.

This is the first set of num-bers after the office said last week it would change the way it calculates GDP figures in line with European Union Regula-tions (ESA 2010). Thus the base year used is now changed from 1998 to 2009 and the changes mean in nominal terms, Tur-key's GDP is now larger by 20 percent, Ozgur Altug at BGC Partners said in a note. The last time Turkey recorded negative growth was in 2009 when the country entered recession.

Yesterday's figures also come as the country's tourism industry is under severe strain after multiple terror attacks

blamed on Islamic State jihad-ists and Kurdish militants and the July 15 failed coup.

In the latest attack on Sat-urday, twin bombings ripped through Istanbul, killing 38 peo-ple, mostly police and were later claimed by the Kurdistan Free-dom Falcons (TAK), seen as a radical offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

After the release, the lira hit 3.53 against the US dollar at one point after trading earlier at 3.48 as bad figures and continued chaos inside the country wreak havoc on the Turkish currency. By 1030 GMT, the lira was at 3.52 against the greenback, which is likely to increase pres-sure on the central bank after it raised interest rates for the first time in three years last month.

Pact signed to study futuristic transport system

Hyperloop in UAE

A hyperloop route could connect Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in eight to 12 minutes. This compares to the two hours it takes by car today.

The statement said it was “the only initiative of its kind that has the support of the government of Abu Dhabi."

Eni to sell 30% stake in Egyptian gas field to Rosneft for $1.575bn

A picture shows the restoration of a vintage Volkswagen Kombi bus (van, transporter or camper) and of a Fiat500 (right) by the "T1 specialist" team, at the garage Nucci in Florence. Campers like the legendary VW Bulli, Samba or Splitties, sometimes come from Brazil in poor condition and reborn at the garage Nucci in Florence.

Vintage rebirth

Turkish economy shrinksSAGO buys 725,000 tonnes hard wheat

Paris

AFP

IMF chief Christine Lagarde went on trial in France yes-terday over a massive state

payout to a flamboyant tycoon when she was finance minister, in a case that risks tarnishing her stellar career.

Lagarde denies the charges of negligence, arguing she was acting "in the state's interest" in approving the payment to Ber-nard Tapie, the former owner of sportswear giant Adidas.

If found guilty, the 60-year-old could receive a maximum one-year prison sentence and a ¤15,000 ($15,900) fine. She arrived at the Court of Justice of the Republic, a tribunal that hears cases against ministers, wearing a dark suit and a pat-terned scarf. Her defence team is expected to push for an adjournment.

"I don't plan to keep quiet," Lagarde told the presiding judge,

when advised of her right to remain silent. In a documentary aired on French television on Sunday, Lagarde said she was "confident and determined."

"I tried to do my work the

best I could within the limits of what I knew," she told France 2.

"Negligence is an uninten-tional offence. I think all of us have been a little bit negligent at some stage of our lives," she

added. Whatever the outcome, the case risks damaging the image of the former corporate lawyer who progressed through the finance ministry to become one of the world 's

most powerful women. It also threatens the credibility of the International Monetary Fund, as Lagarde is the third IMF chief to face trial. The IMF has given its full backing to its managing director, who began her second term in the post in July.

Lagarde's lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve dismissed specu-lation about what the IMF would do if she lost the case. "She will be cleared so the question hasn't even arisen," he told Europe 1 radio. The accusations stem from Lagarde's handling of a dispute with Tapie, a former government minister who claimed a state bank had defrauded him in its sale of Adidas. Tapie, now 73, owned the firm between 1990 and 1993 but lost control of it when he went bankrupt. He sold it to state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais for ¤315.5m in Febru-ary 1993. The bank sold it again the year after at ¤701m, leading Tapie to claim he had been cheated.

IMF chief Lagarde on trial in France over tycoon case

Gendarmes gesture as IMF chief Christine Lagarde (centre) and her lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve (rear left) wait in a courtroom of the Paris courthouse, yesterday.

24 TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2016BUSINESS

25TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2016 BUSINESS

Indonesian women sell their harvest in a traditional floating market on the Martapura River in Lok Baintan, South Kalimantan, yesterday. Indonesia's economy grew less than analysts expected in the first quarter, a setback to President Joko Widodo's efforts to rejuvenate growth and implement reforms in Southeast Asia's largest nation.

Floating market

Hong Kong

AFP

Most energy firms in Asia jumped with a surge in oil prices yesterday after

11 non-Opec countries agreed to huge cuts in crude production, while Saudi Arabia also signalled a bigger reduction in output than previously agreed.

The 11 nations, led by Russia, said they would pump more than

half a million fewer barrels a day from next month in an effort to address a global supply glut that has scythed prices over the past two years. The cut will contrib-ute to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' own initiative unveiled with Rus-sia on November 30.

Also at the weekend Opec kingpin Saudi Arabia said it would slash production beyond what was previously agreed by

Opec last month, providing an additional boost for prices.

"This is a very powerful mes-sage that producers want to balance the market higher," said Chris Weston, chief market strat-egist in Melbourne at IG, told Bloomberg News. "As a state-ment of intent, this is about as bullish as it gets."

Both main contracts jumped almost five percent in early Asian trade yesterday, setting a fire

under energy firms in the region, although early surges ran out of steam by the end of play.

In Sydney Woodside Petro-leum was up 2.9 percent and Japan Petroleum jumped 3.8 per-cent in Tokyo. Hong Kong-listed CNOOC closed down 0.4 percent while PetroChina added 0.6 percent.

However Craig Erlam, sen-ior market analyst at OANDA, said: "Even if we get full

compliance in the deal, which is by no means a guarantee, US oil rigs are coming back online at a very fast rate -- up to 498 last week from the lows of 316 in May -- and output has been rising over the last month or two."

And the gains in energy firms were unable to spark a broad rally across regional markets.

Tokyo ended up 0.8 percent but Hong Kong lost 1.4 percent and Shanghai shed 2.5 percent.

Sydney was flat, while Seoul closed 0.1 percent higher, Singa-pore slipped 0.4 percent and Manila lost more than two per-cent. On currency exchanges the dollar rallied ahead of an expected US interest rate hike this week by the Federal Reserve.

In afternoon trade the dollar bought 115.80 yen compared with 115.29 yen in New York and well up from the 114.40 yen ear-lier Friday in Asia.

London

Reuters

The dollar rose to its highest since Febru-ary against the yen yesterday as US bond yields climbed on the

back of expectations of broadly higher inflation, driven by a 5 percent rise in global oil prices.

The Norwegian krone and Canadian dollar were the other big gainers after Opec and non-Opec producers struck their first deal since 2001 to curtail output jointly, driving crude prices to their highest levels in a year and a half.

Added to gains for the euro and sterling that held the dol-lar flat against the basket of currencies used to measure its broader strength and traders said the market was cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s meeting tomorrow.

With a rise in interest rates fully priced in this week, the question is what sort of signal Fed chair Janet Yellen sends on the pace of more tightening next year and whether its board is nervous enough about the dollar’s strength to mention it.

“It’s going to be hard to have the energy to make new lows before the Fed,” said Rich-ard Benson, co-head of portfolio investment at cur-rency fund Millennium Global

in London.“An explicit mention of the

currency in either the statement or the news conference and it might become more difficult for the dollar.”

The dollar rose half a per-cent to trade above 116 yen for the first time since early Feb-ruary. It lost 0.4 percent against its Canadian equivalent and was 0.1 percent lower against the euro at $1.5760.

Speculators increased pos-itive bets on the greenback for a third straight week through December 6, pushing net longs to their highest since early January.

London

Reuters

British online fashion retailer ASOS plans to add 1,500 new jobs at its Lon-

don headquarters, the latest tech business to announce new investment in Britain despite the country’s vote to leave the Euro-pean Union.

ASOS, which also sells to customers in the United States, mainland Europe and elsewhere, said it would increase its Lon-don workforce by 60 percent over the next three years from

the current 2,500, and invest £40m ($50m) to renovate its building in the trendy district of Camden. The new jobs in tech-nology, marketing and retail follow announcements from Facebook and Google in the last month that they plan to invest in Britain.

The planned hirings come despite warnings before the Brexit vote on June 23 that leav-ing the EU would make Britain a less attractive place for com-panies to invest.

The chief executive of ASOS, which has annual sales of more

than £1bn ($1.3bn), said the Brexit vote had not featured in the company’s thinking.

“The decision today is noth-ing to do with Brexit,” Nick Beighton said in an interview yesterday. “These plans had been put together pre-June 23.”

In recent months, Britain’s tech sector has proved more resilient than other industries such as financial services, where banks including Goldman Sachs and Citi are said to be consider-ing shifting some jobs abroad due to Brexit. For tech execu-tives, London’s talent pool and

creative culture have convinced them of the city’s importance whether Britain is in the EU or not.

“ASOS is a mixture of fash-ion, technology, creative and design capability all in one place. There are very few places where you get that hotspot of those tal-ents in one place so London’s very good for that,” said Beighton.

ASOS has benefited from the devaluation of the pound since the Brexit vote as more than half of its sales are made outside Britain.

Hong Kong AFP

Hong Kong's Finance Chief resigned yester-day ahead of what is

widely expected to be a tilt at the city leadership.

John Tsang (pictured) -- nicknamed "Mr Pringles" by local media for his resem-blance to the crisp brand's mascot -- is seen as a more moderate alternative to cur-rent leader Leung Chun-ying, who said on Friday he would step down in July.

Tsang handed in his res-ignation to Leung yesterday, a government statement said, adding it had been submitted to Beijing.

The finance secretary has yet to confirm whether he will run for the leadership but his resignation is seen as a signal that he will enter the race. Candidates are not allowed to hold a government office if they want to stand for chief executive.

Although Tsang has a bet-ter public image than Leung, he is still an establishment figure. The chief executive is chosen by an electoral com-mittee made up of representatives of special interest groups, weighted towards Beijing.

Mass rallies in 2014 called for fully free leadership elec-tions, but failed to win concessions on reform.

Special interest groups voted for members of the election committee Sunday -- final votes are still being counted but of almost 1,200 only around a quarter are likely to come from the pro-democracy camp.

Speculation that Tsang would run for office intensi-fied last year after China's President Xi Jinping shook his hand during a meeting in Beijing.

People visit the Progressive International Motorcycle Show at Javits Center in New York City. Charter partners on the Progressive International Motorcycle Shows tour include BMW, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha.

Motorcycle show

The Hague

AFP

Dutch electronics giant Philips announced yes-terday the sale of a

majority share in its Lumileds LED lighting business for $1.5bn, after cancelling the spinoff earlier this year over US regulatory concerns.

"Royal Philips yesterday announced that it has signed an agreement to sell an 80.1-per-cent interest in Lumileds to certain funds managed by affil-iates of (US-based) Apollo Global Management," the com-pany said.

Philips said it expected the deal to net the firm approxi-mately $1.5bn (¤1.41m) in cash as well as equity, adding Lumileds is valued at around $2.0bn. The new move comes after Philips dropped a planned $2.8bn sale to Beijing-based GO Scale in January when neither company could convince the US Committee on Foreign Invest-ment (CFIUS) to clear the deal.

"With this transaction, we will be completing an impor-tant phase of the transformation of our portfolio and I

am satisfied that in the Apollo managed funds we have found the right owner for Lumileds," said Philips Chief Executive Frans van Houten. Describing the loss of the earlier GO Scale deal as a "setback", Van Houten said: "We are confident that this time we will succeed." But Van Houten admitted that "given the backdrop of the CFIUS outcome we had to look for a buyer in a considerably smaller landscape of potential buyers." "Therefore the premium of the previous process could not be replicated this time," he told reporters.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017, subject to regulatory approvals. Van Houten how-ever stressed that with retaining a 19.9 minority stake, Philips also had access to so-called preferred equity shares, mean-ing the Dutch company will receive an additional income "if Lumileds performs well".

Jos Versteeg, an analyst at the Amsterdam-based Theod-oor Gilissen private bank said that "Mr Van Houten is a very good deal-maker and he made the best deal under the circumstances."

Moscow

AFP

The rouble hit its highest level in 17 months against the dollar yesterday as oil

prices surged following a land-mark deal by Russia and other non-Opec producers to join the cartel in capping output.

In morning trading, the

dollar traded at 61.05 roubles, a level not seen since October 2015, and the euro at 64.54 rubles, also a 17-month high.

Russia and 10 other states on Saturday said they will reduce their production by more than half a million bar-rels per day (bpd), the Organisation of the Petroleum E x p o r t i n g C o u n t r i e s

announced. The move marks the first time non-Opec mem-bers have reached an agreement since 2001, and fol-lows a similar deal by Opec last month.

The slide in oil prices and Western sanctions over Mos-cow's role in the Ukraine crisis have pummelled the Russian economy.

Dollar rises to 10-month high against yen

Currency trade

The dollar rose half a percent to trade above 116 yen for the first time since early February. It lost 0.4% against its Canadian equivalent and was 0.1% lower against the euro at $1.5760.

The Norwegian krone and Canadian dollar were the other big gainers after Opec and non-Opec producers struck their first deal.

ASOS to add 1,500 jobs in UK over three years

Hong Kong's Finance Chief resigns

Philips to sell Lumileds' 80.1% share for $1.5bn

Asian energy firms rally with oil on production cut deal

Rouble hits new high against dollar

QATAR STOCK EXCHANGE

26 TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2016BUSINESS

QE Index 10,328.76 1.38 %

QE Total Return Index 16,711.25 1.38 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 3,831.55 1.25 %

QE All Share Index 2,837.09 1.18 %

QE All Share Banks & 2,834.01 1.35 %

Financial Services

QE All Share Industrials 3,268 1.68 %

QE All Share Transportation 2,487.65 0.93 %

QE All Share Real Estate 2,310.09 1.99 %

QE All Share Insurance 4,510.61 0.45 %

QE All Share Telecoms 1,165.9 1.33 %

QE All Share Consumer 5,815.21 0.30 %

Goods & Services

QE INDICES SUMMARY QE MARKET SUMMARY COMPARISON WORLD STOCK INDICES

GOLD AND SILVER

12-12-2016 Index 10,328.76

Change 140.86

% 1.38

YTD% 0.96

Volume 14,952,706

Value (QAR) 449,796,057.70

Trades 5,916

Up 28 | Down 13 | Unchanged 0111-12-2016 Index 10,187.90

Change 133.95

% 1.33

YTD% 2.32

Volume 10,084,336

Value (QAR) 334,433,859.77

Trades 4,572

GOLD QR138.2047 per grammeSILVER QR2.0127 per gramme

Index Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year LowAll Ordinaries 5598.956 63.584 1.15 5691.8 4762.1

Cac 40 Index/D 4707.15 12.43 0.26 4694.72 3892.46

Dj Indu Average 19549.62 297.84 1.55 19558.4 15450.6

Hang Seng Inde/D 22861.84 60.92 0.27 24364 18278.8

Iseq Overall/D 6310.35 14.4 0.23 6791.68 5286.65

Karachi 100 In/D 44741.98 246.99 0.56 44539.28 29785

Nikkei 225 Ind/D 18765.47 268.78 1.45 18951.12 14864.01

S&P 500 Index/D 2241.35 29.12 1.32 2241.63 1810.1

EXCHANGE RATECurrency Buying SellingUS$ QR 3.6305 QR 3.6500

UK QR 4.5449 QR 4.6367

Euro QR 3.8113 QR 3.8999

CA$ QR 2.7368 QR 2.8033

Swiss Fr QR 3.5413 QR 3.6309

Yen QR 0.0311 QR 0.0320

Aus$ QR 2.6822 QR 2.7543

Ind Re QR 0.0532 QR 0.0544

Pak Re QR 0.0345 QR 0.0350

Peso QR 0.0717 QR 0.0741

SL Re QR 0.0242 QR 0.0251

Taka QR 0.0452 QR 0.0465

Nep Re QR 0.0335 QR 0.0344

SA Rand QR 0.2593 QR 0.2749

Dubai

Reuters

Stock markets in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates jumped yes-terday as crude oil prices shot to their

highest since mid-2015, but the uptrend in Saudi Arabia lost steam as investors anticipated the state budget.

In Qatar, the QSE index added a further 1.4 percent to 10,329 points, closing for a sec-ond day above technical resistance on its 200-day average.

Commercial Bank advanced 1.1 percent to 32.85 rials. It said on Sunday it was offering 58.8 million new shares to rights holders at 25.50 riyals each; rights trading will start tomor-row and end two weeks later.

Brent crude soared as high as $57.89 per barrel yesterday morning in response to the weekend deal between Opec and non-Opec producers to cut output.

The index in Dubai, which was closed on Sunday for a pub-lic holiday, climbed 2.8 percent to 3,657 points, its highest finish this year, in the heaviest trade since March.

It rose above technical

resistance on its August peak of 3,624 points. Any clean break of that resistance - a second straight daily close above it - would be technically bullish, pointing up to the October 2015 peak of 3,740 points.

Eighty percent of traded shares advanced with the larg-est listed real estate developer, Emaar Properties, gaining 5.1 percent.

In Abu Dhabi, the index added 0.7 percent with the main support coming from a 2.2 per-cent gain in the largest listed stock, Etisalat. Abu Dhabi National Energy jumped 5.7 percent.

In Saudi Arabia, the general

market index slipped 0.5 per-cent in the heaviest trade since April. On Sunday, it had gained 1.1 percent on the oil-deal news; many institutional investors think the petrochemical sector is now fairly valued.

“The positive news with regards to Opec and to the improving financial position of the government after the bond issuance in October has now been fully reflected in market prices. Now investors are repo-sitioning portfolios in preparation for the state budget announcement before the end of the year,” said Jassim Alju-bran, analyst at Aljazira Capital. Another round of subsidy cuts is

expected in the budget, Aljubran added, but he believes the worst for Saudi companies is now largely behind them.

Investors, yesterday, dumped most petrochemical shares with bellwether producer Saudi Basic Industries dropping 1.3 percent. The insurance sec-tor, favoured by local retail investors, also sold off, declin-ing 1.4 percent.

The index in Egypt, also closed on Sunday for a holiday, rose 1.3 percent after two ses-sions of declines. Exchange data showed foreigners were net buyers by a very small margin; they have been buyers consist-ently since the Egyptian pound was floated on Nov. 3.

Orascom Telecom, the most heavily traded share, rebounded 2.6 percent after plunging last week on news that long-time chief executive Najuib Sawiris would step down next month and that it is winding down a North Korean bank affiliate.

Ezz Steel surged 8.2 percent to 12.65 Egyptian pounds, its highest close in 19 months. Investors are still chasing com-panies that may benefit from the currency float; according to a note by Prime Holding, Ezz Steel has been able to pass on its higher costs from a weaker pound to its end users.

Qatar & UAE stocks gain on oil rally

The logo of Opec is seen at its headquarters in Vienna.

US indexes hold near record highs as energy stocks jumpNew York AP

US indexes held near record highs yesterday after big gains for energy

stocks offset losses in other areas of the market.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was little changed at 2,259. The Dow Jones industrial average added 42 points, or 0.2 percent, to 19,801. The Nasdaq composite fell 18 points, or 0.4 percent, to 5,425. All three closed at record highs on Fri-day. More stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.6 percent to 6,911, and Germany’s DAX shed 0.2 percent to 11,180. France’s CAC 40 was virtually flat. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.8 percent to 19,155, South Korea’s Kospi index inched up by 0.1 percent to 2,027 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.4 per-cent to 22,433.

Surge in oil prices helped to drive stocks higher across the oil-producing industry. National Oilwell Varco jumped 7.7

percent to $42.83, Transocean rose 5.2 percent to $16.23 and Marathon Oil added 4.7 percent to $19.11.

Energy stocks in the S&P 500 rose 2.1 percent, by far the largest gain of the 11 sectors that make up the index.

Expectations of higher infla-tion in the economy, as well as stronger economic growth, have driven bond yields higher since Donald Trump’s surprise victory last month in the US presiden-tial election. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.50 percent from 2.47 percent late Friday. That’s its highest level since September 2014.

Economists and investors are widely expecting the Fed-eral Reserve to raise interest rates at its two-day policy meet-ing this week, which ends Wednesday. It would be the first increase since a year ago and just the second since 2006. The central bank has held interest rates at close to zero since the Great Recession in hopes of driv-ing economic growth, though the low rates have also squeezed savers looking for income from bank accounts and bonds.