GULF STATES- ECONOMICS & FINANCE
Emirates NBD spurs further revival on Dubai bourse
Emirates NBD shares jumped more than 6 percent on Wednesday due to gains made by re-negotiating the buyout price of Denizbank, continuing a revival in sentiment on Dubai bourse.
Emirates NBD shares closed 6.05 percent higher to be at Dh11.40, and was the most-active stock in trade, contributing to 28 percent of the total value traded of Dh342 million on the bourse. The Dubai Financial Market general index closed 1.12 percent higher at 2,760.48, extending gains for a third straight session.
Dubai bourse has been supported by buying in stocks such as Emaar Properties and Emirates NBD.
The revised restated sale and purchase agreement suggests the pricing has been renegotiated lower by more than 15 percent – pretty much closing in the impact of the 20 percent devaluation of the Turkish Lira,” Vrajesh Bhandari, senior portfolio analyst with Al Mal Capital said.
“The change in Foreign ownership limit and resulting increase in MSCI/FTSE indices should drive in substantial flows in the stock. We see a lot more upside,” Bhandari added. First Abu Dhabi Bank Securities has a target of Dh12 and higher on the stock, meaning an upside of 5 percent on the current value.
In other shares, Dubai Islamic Bank closed 0.41 percent higher at Dh4.92. Emaar Properties witnessed profit-taking from its high of Dh5.23.
Emaar Properties closed 1.36 percent lower at Dh5.06.
Dubai bourse has been supported by buying in stocks such as Emaar Properties and Emirates NBD. The index has gained more than 6.5 percent in the year so far.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange general index closed 0.09 percent lower at 5,048.98. Elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudi Tadawul index closed 0.57 percent higher at 8,985.48.
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Nasdaq Dubai lists $1b Sharjah’s Sukuk
Nasdaq Dubai said it has listed sukuk worth $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) issued by the emirate of Sharjah.
The issuance takes the emirate’s total sukuk value on the Middle East financial exchange to $3.45 billion (Dh12.67 billion).
The joint lead managers for the latest listing are the Arab Banking Corporation, Dubai Islamic Bank, HSBC Bank, KFH Capital Investment Company, Sharjah Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. The legal advisers to the emirate of Sharjah were Clifford Chance, and Maples and Calder (Dubai).
The total value of all sukuk listed in Dubai has now reached $61.34 billion, strengthening Dubai’s role as the largest sukuk listing centre in the world by value.
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DH37.2B dividends to be paid out by 114 UAE-listed companies
Cash dividends totalling Dh37.2 billion are proposed to be paid out for 2018 by 114 companies listed in UAE capital markets, a growth of 16.2 percent year-on-year.
Banks are the largest distributors of profits, with 18 UAE banks reported to disburse up to Dh18.9 billion to stockholders, which comprises 51 percent of the total dividends. The 2018 dividends paid by banks are 13.4 percent higher than in 2017, which is reflective of the banking sector’s positive performance in the year. Annual investment returns in the banking sector amounted to 5 percent, with free-flowing share dividends valued at around Dh10.12 billion. The telecom sector came second with Dh8.54 billion in dividends for 2018 against Dh8.5 billion in 2017. The realty sector reported Dh4.25 billion in dividends; Dh1.67 billion for the services sector; Dh1.43 billion for leisure and hospitality; and Dh693 million for the financing sector, with the remaining dividends divided over other business platforms. First Abu Dhabi Bank led the sector with more than Dh8 billion in dividends, which account for 74 percent of the bank’s capital, with net profits exceeding Dh12 billion. ADCB came second with Dh2.4 billion, while Dubai Islamic Bank paid out Dh2.3 billion and Emirates NBD Dh2.19 billion.
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Abu Dhabi’s GDP grows 12.9percent in q4 2018
Abu Dhabi’s gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices rose by 12.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with the same period in 2017, according to estimates released by Abu Dhabi Statistics Centre (SCAD) on Tuesday. In a statement on WAM, SCAD said that 2018 GDP at current prices grew to Dh931.2 billion, up 14.5 percent from Dh813.6 billion in 2017, with the organisation attributing the increase in economic activity to the value added by oil activities, which rose by 33 percent. At the same time, the value added by non-oil activities increased by 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 following an annual growth rate of 2.1 percent in the third quarter of the same year. The contribution of non-oil activities to total GDP at current prices decreased from 64.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 to 57.7 percent in the fourth quarter in 2018, SCAD noted. Compared with the previous quarter, the GDP at current prices increased by 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter, 2018 due to the value added by oil activities, which rose by 2.5 percent. Non-oil activities recorded an increase of 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with the third quarter in 2018. Meanwhile, the value added by the ‘Financial companies’ sector to GDP increased by 9 percent from Dh18.91 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017 to Dh20.62 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, while the value added by the ‘general government’ sector increased by 1.8 percent from Dh16.22 billion to Dh16.52 billion in the same period.
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Visitors from Japan to Dubai surpass 100,000 mark for first time
Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Dubai Tourism, reported record growth in overnight visitors from Japan, crossing the 100,000 mark for the first time at the end of 2018. Reflecting a 15.3 percent year-on-year increase, the emirate welcomed 104,843 overnight visitors. In order to drive awareness and consideration around Dubai as a holiday destination among Japan’s target market, the department identified women and senior citizens as key drivers in the travel and tourism space. Essam Kazim, CEO of Dubai’s Corporation of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, DCTCM, said, “With the market enthusiastic to learn more about the city, we will continue to work to enhance our holistic marketing efforts and strengthen our ongoing strategic partnerships with key industry leaders across multiple touch points, elevating the city’s position as the destination of choice for Japanese travellers.” Dubai continues to be a key trending destination among young Japanese females, with the emirate witnessing an increase of 21 percent to 7.4 million mentions on social media from 2016 to 2018. Building on this growing interest, Dubai Tourism led a campaign to showcase the city as a safe and exciting destination specifically targeting young female travellers. The campaign leveraged user videos and image posts, as well as inviting users to participate in ongoing competitions throughout the year to showcase Dubai’s attractions to a broader audience. This campaign achieved 91.6 million impressions across a three-month period, driving deeper engagement and encouraging wider conversations around Dubai.
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Abu Dhabi attracts more than 10m visitors in 2018
Abu Dhabi welcomed 10.27 million international visitors in 2018, with the emirate also posting figures showing incredible growth over the last three years, Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) said on Wednesday. The numbers were boosted by the addition of a number of events and enhancements to all of its specialised tourism sectors, improvements to its infrastructure and significant development of its cultural assets. DCT Abu Dhabi said more than 10 million visitors came to the UAE capital last year, made up of both day-trippers and overnight guests, with the hotel guests increasing by 3.94 percent compared to 2017 at one of the emirate’s 168 hotels or hotel apartments. The key markets of India, the US and China have all posted double-digit growth for hotel guests in 2018 with India and China remaining the two top markets for overseas visitors and UK — the top European source market.