JEDDAH: The board of directors of ICIEC approved a proposal to increase its capital increase, at its 62nd meeting held at the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) headquarters here last week.
JEDDAH: The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (NSCSA) will sign four shipbuilding contracts plus two additional optional contracts on Sunday, with Hyundai MIPO of South Korea. The contracts value including the two optional deals amounts to SR1.543 billion.
RIYADH: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), made up of six Gulf Arab states, will this year resolve outstanding issues to clear a path toward creating a customs union, its secretary general said on Saturday.
NEW YORK: A sweeping insider trading case that shook the hedge fund world is finally set for trial, with onetime billionaire Raj Rajaratnam fighting to stay out of prison in a courtroom drama over corporate secrets, tapped telephones and friends-turned-government witnesses.
SINGAPORE: Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia pumped almost 9.4 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, trade publication Petroleum Intelligence Weekly said, pegging the Kingdom’s oil output at higher levels than most other estimates. Saudi Arabia last week pledged that they would fill any supply gap caused by the disruption of exports from Libya.
AMMAN: Arab stock markets tumbled across the board last week, led by the Saudi stock exchange, amid fears that political turmoil could drag on with catastrophic fallout on various aspects of the Arab economy, financial analysts said Friday.
NEW DELHI: India vowed on Friday to further liberalize foreign direct investments in an attempt to fund a $1 trillion plan to overhaul its dilapidated infrastructure — a vital component to boost economic growth of the country.
NEW DELHI: India’s state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp. has stepped up supplies from United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, replacing those from crisis-hit Libya, an industry source with knowledge of the matter said on Friday. “ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Co) and Saudi Arabia have agreed to raise supplies,” the source told Reuters, adding BPCL annually buys up to 0.50 million tons or 10,000 bpd Libyan oil — a small portion of the 430,000 bpd needed at its key plants. Rebels opposed to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi edged toward the major oil terminal of Ras Lanuf on Friday, as civil unrest in the country intensifies.
LONDON: Unnerving as it is, the tide of political change sweeping the Arab world may also end up drawing in a fresh wave of foreign capital for the region. As entrenched monopolies and patronage give way in the Middle East and North Africa, governments in the region could open their markets further and divest some state assets.
LONDON: Major grain importing countries are set to build more storage silos and expand strategic stocks after seeing the role played by record food prices in political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa. Egypt, South Korea and Saudi Arabia are among nations which have already unveiled strategic plans as grain markets adjust to the prospect of further supply crunches over the next few years.
NEW YORK: Stocks fell Friday as worries about another jump in oil prices overshadow a solid report on the US job market.
WASHINGTON: Their opening volleys behind them, the White House and tea party-backed Republicans in Congress still face a gaping disagreement over how much to immediately cut from domestic programs over the next six months as a down payment on out-of-control budget deficits.
WASHINGTON: The European plane-building company that lost out on a $35 billion refueling tanker deal is not appealing the Air Force’s decision to go with Chicago-based Boeing Co.
WASHINGTON: Hiring by US employers hit a nine-month high in February and the jobless rate slipped to a nearly two-year low of 8.9 percent, showing the economy is kicking into a higher gear.
PARIS: France faced severe political embarrassment on Friday after carmaker Renault threw doubt on the spying accusations that shook the company to its core and threatened a diplomatic spat with China.
PARIS: ECB policymakers warned global central bankers on Friday that economic imbalances could worsen fast unless the G20 makes a concerted push to tackle them. Axel Weber, soon to quit as head of Germany’s Bundesbank, told a meeting of US, euro zone and Asian policymakers that IMF forecasts pointed to renewed divergences in current account positions and that the surge in oil prices since unrest broke out across North Africa would accelerate this.
LONDON: A rebound in the United States advertising market allowed WPP, the world’s largest ad group, to follow its peers and post strong full-year results on Friday and a solid outlook for 2011.
HONG KONG: Asia has gorged on overseas credit. Foreign loans to the region rose 16 percent in the third quarter of 2010 to $2.8 trillion, according to preliminary data from the Bank for International Settlements.
PARIS: A majority state-owned Dubai aircraft leasing company has canceled Airbus orders worth $4.7 billion at current list prices, weeks after canceling Boeing orders worth $2 billion, Airbus order data showed on Thursday.
ABU DHABI: Etisalat, the Gulf’s largest telecoms firm, plans to invest 7 billion dirhams ($1.91 billion) on expanding its fiber optic network over the next three years, a senior official said.
LONDON: Fears of escalating political unrest across the Middle East and North Africa will not put off investment in new aluminum projects in the region, industry experts say.
BAGHDAD: OPEC is concerned about turmoil in Libya but has enough surplus capacity to cover any shortfall caused by the rebellion against Muammar Qaddafi, Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Kareem Luaibi said on Thursday.
JEDDAH: A bidding group led by Mustang Al-Hejailan Engineering, a Wood Group company, said it had been awarded a general engineering services (GES+) contract by Saudi Aramco.
DUBAI: Most Gulf bourses fell on Thursday, as a revolt against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi continued and fear of a contagion in the Middle East prompted investors to exit markets.
NEW DELHI: A state-run Iraqi bank plans to set up a $500 million private-equity fund to invest in projects in the war-ravaged country and will next month look to identify a global player to act as the fund's general partner.
AMMAN: A coalition of Arab businessmen on Thursday urged the private sector in member countries to play a key role in rectifying the process of economic and social development in such a manner that responds to the demands of Arab protesters.
SYDNEY: Australia’s trade surplus narrowed by less than expected in January as a sharp drop in oil imports helped offset a billion-dollar hit to coal exports from floods in Queensland, extending a record-breaking run of trade outcomes.
LONDON: Many of Britiain’s vocational courses for teenagers improve school league table performance but do not help the young people taking them to get into university or find a job, a report published on Thursday said.
SEOUL: Nippon Steel, JFE, POSCO and others are teaming up to buy a 15 percent stake in a Brazilian rare metal miner for around $1.8 billion, seeking to fend off China and its voracious appetite for raw materials.
JOHANNESBURG: Shell wants to use thirsty technology that could contaminate groundwater to extract natural gas from a semi-desert region of South Africa, but says people living there won’t be left dry.
SINGAPORE: UBS , the world’s biggest wealth manager, aims to expand its business in Asia-Pacific at twice the pace of market’s growth and is boosting investment in the hottest market for private banking to win more client money.
AMSTERDAM: Global construction will outpace GDP growth over the next 10 years, with China and India accounting for 38 percent of the $4.8 trillion increase in output by 2020, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said.
STOCKHOLM: Truck maker Volvo’s outgoing CEO Leif Johansson has been nominated as the new chairman of one of Sweden’s largest companies, wireless equipment maker L.M. Ericsson AB.
TOKYO: Japan is set to launch at the weekend its next-generation high-speed train, featuring sleek green and silver cars with pink stripes and named for the peregrine falcon.
LONDON: Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire is poised to grow ever bigger after the British government approved plans by News Corp to buy full control of satellite TV operator British Sky Broadcasting Group.
NEW YORK: US securities regulator is seeking information from an unknown number of regional and community banks that have restructured troubled loans in order to make them appear healthier than they really are, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.
NEW YORK: The New York Times Co. says print advertising revenue has stabilized since late January.
LONDON: Aviva, Britain’s No. 2 insurer, said it could sell assets this year as part of a plan to concentrate on the countries where it was best established.
NEW YORK: Valero Energy, the largest US independent refiner, said a trading loss would hurt its first-quarter earnings.
LONDON: Crude oil rose on Friday, with Brent pushing toward $116 a barrel, as Libyan security forces began a violent crackdown on protesters in Tripoli and clashed with rebels near the major oil terminal of Ras Lanuf. Al Jazeera television also reported that an oil facility at Zueitina, south of Benghazi was damaged and on fire.
RIYADH: As a tribute to Sony’s technological leadership in the Kingdom, Sony Gulf and Modern Electronics Company Limited (MECL), sole distributors of Sony products in Saudi Arabia, a subsidiary of the Al-Faisaliah Group, celebrated the 40th anniversary of their strategic alliance at a dazzling event held at the Riyadh Marriott Hotel here Thursday.
NEW YORK: Upbeat US jobs data failed to impress investors on Friday, with US stocks down in early trading and the US dollar paring gains against the yen.
FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank may hike interest rates next month, far earlier than markets expected, though any rise would not signal a series of increases, President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Thursday.
MILAN: Global food prices hit a record high in February, the United Nations said Thursday, warning that fresh oil price spikes and stockpiling by importers keen to head off popular unrest would hit already volatile cereal markets.
SAN FRANCISCO: Baker Hughes, the world’s third-largest oilfield services company, warned that disruptions from North African unrest and a North American cold snap would cut into first-quarter profit.
OMAHA, Nebraska: Billionaire Warren Buffett says the US economy continues to improve and doesn’t need as much government help as it is currently getting. Buffett appeared on Wednesday on CNBC four days after releasing his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.
NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia: France’s Total SA is taking a large share in Russian natural gas producer Novatek and an even larger piece of a project with Novatek to build a liquefied natural gas facility.
TRIPOLI: Further disruptions of Libyan oil supplies to world markets could push crude prices above $130 a barrel in the next month, the country’s top oil official said.
RIYADH: The Saudi Arabian Mining Company, Maaden, announced on Wednesday that its affiliate, Maaden Phosphate Company (MPC), has started loading its first shipment of ammonia at Ras Al-Zour port.
DHAHRAN: Siemens Energy announced on Wednesday the founding of a specialist facility to be based at the King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) in Dhahran, one of the leading research and teaching institutions in the Middle East.
GENEVA: What do you get if you cross Nissan’s Leaf electric compact with one of the Japanese car maker’s Z-car racers? Possibly the Esflow, an unlikely mashup the Yokohama-based constructor unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show this week.
RIYADH: Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf said Tuesday that recent allocations made by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah following his return to the Kingdom has enhanced private sector participation and helped people in various sectors. The minister was inaugurating the Saudi Economic Forum (SEF) at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh on Tuesday.
MANAMA: Bahrain’s tourism and financial sectors have been hit by the unrest that has gripped the country and it will take until at least the second half of 2011 for the kingdom to restore its reputation as a business-friendly hub.
RIYADH: The National Water Company (NWC) has signed a management contact with Aqualia, a Spanish firm, for the detection and repair of water systems in Riyadh city.
