Monday, November 25, 2019Rabia I 28, 1441 AH

BUSINESSGULF TIMES

Workers protest ‘brute force intimidation’

Electric cars at 170 mph are test labs for SUVs

GOOGLE RIFT | Page 11TECH FOCUS | Page 2

ISLAMIC EQUITIES UPBEAT : Page 12

Strong buying limits QSE decline; index still above 10,250

Armenia seeks Qatar investments in tourism, mining and educationArmenia is encouraging Qatari busi-

nessmen to pour investments into the former Soviet republic’s tourism,

mining, and education, among others, ac-cording to its President, Armen Sarkissian.

Sarkissian made the statement during a private meeting organised yesterday in Doha by the Qatari Businessmen Associa-tion (QBA), which also hosted an accom-panying delegation, which included the Deputy Foreign Minister and head of the National Fund.

The president said tourism is the “most important and easiest potential opportu-nity” for Qatari investors, in light of the discussion to provide daily fl ights between Doha and the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

Sarkissian said Armenia is rich in natural resources, such as copper, zinc, gold, and lead, making the country famous for its jew-ellery, gold, and diamond industry. Similarly, Armenia’s education sector “has achieved great results” and started exporting its ed-ucational systems to foreign markets like France and Germany, the president said.

Also, the presence of a large number of international banks “is indicative of the development of the banking sector in Ar-menia,” said Sarkissian. He underscored the importance of considering Armenia as “the gateway to Eastern Europe.”

The meeting was also attended by Ar-menian ambassador Gegham Gharibjanian, who said the visit to Qatar aims to discuss co-operation opportunities and the devel-opment of economic relations between Qa-tar and Armenia.

Welcoming Sarkissian and his delegation were QBA board member Saud al-Mana, and QBA members Khalid al-Mannai, Na-bila Abu Issa, Maqbool Khalfan, Ihsan al-

Khiaymi, and Mohamed Althaf, as well as QBA deputy general manager Sarah Abdal-lah.

Al-Mana underlined the importance of Sarkissian’s visit, which focused on ways to strengthen co-operation ties between the two countries, and how to boost economic and trade relations. He stressed that Qatari businessmen are interested in identifying possible areas of co-operation and invest-ment opportunities being off ered in Arme-nia.

During the meeting, QBA members also showcased the fi elds, sectors, and products off ered by their companies, which rep-resented almost all vital sectors in Qatar, including construction, automotive, food and consumer goods, banking, and luxury goods, among others.

They also expressed interest in exploring new international markets and their readi-ness to identify areas of co-operation in Ar-menia. QBA members also confi rmed their keenness to support and develop bilat-

eral relations in various fi elds; both parties agreed to organise a visit “to study these opportunities closely and learn more about the Republic of Armenia.”

Sarkissian thanked the QBA for hosting the meeting, during which he expressed the importance of developing relations be-tween the two countries and getting more acquainted with the business environment in Armenia and some of the major invest-ment projects that may attract the interest of Qatari businessmen.

Algeria squeezed in Europe gas market by a fl ood of LNG; 25% sales drop seenBloombergFrankfurt

Algeria’s natural gas pipeline exports to Europe are getting squeezed by cheaper Russian

supplies and a global abundance of the liquefi ed form of the fuel.

European clients of Sonatrach have “greatly reduced their demand” for conventional gas from Algeria, result-ing in a 25% drop in the level of sales expected this year, said Ahmed El-Hachemi Mazighi, vice-president of marketing at the state-owned energy company.

Algeria is the third-biggest gas supplier to Europe. Its lower pipeline exports are evidence of how new LNG supplies from the US to Australia and Russia are overwhelming the mar-ket and driving prices lower. That’s reduced the competitiveness of the north African country’s pipeline gas contracts, which are mostly tied to oil prices, according to the energy con-sultant Wood Mackenzie.

To compensate, Sonatrach turned more of its gas into LNG. It’s selling those supplies on the spot market for

immediate delivery at a rate about a quarter higher than expected this year, Mazighi said. It’s the fi rst time that spot sales represented 30% of the company’s LNG exports.

“In 2019, the trend was completely reversed due to the warm winter in Europe,” said Mazighi. “2020 is ex-pected to be a diffi cult year too. If we have a warm winter as last year, we will have to do a lot of spots, too.”

Sonatrach’s LNG sales are set to reach 5bn cubic metre this year, an “historical record” over the past 20 years, and representing about 60 shipments. More than half of the company’s LNG volumes were sold in Asia.

Algerian pipeline-gas prices are about $2.5/mmbtu higher than north-west European prices, according to Wood Mackenzie.

Lower Algerian pipeline-gas ex-ports have created room to help bal-ance the European LNG market oversupply. Cumulative Algerian gas pipeline exports to Italy are down about 1.3bn cubic metres since Oc-tober 1, compared with the same pe-riod last year, according to a Bloomb-ergNEF report.

‘Shortage of cybersecurity professionals in Mena offers immense potential for tech-savvy millennials’

The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) faces “pronounced” shortage of cybersecurity professionals, thus off ering immense potential for the millennials in the region, according to a study by Booz Allen Hamilton.Highlighting that globally, there is a shortage of 2.9mn cybersecurity professionals, the study said, “This gap is also pronounced in the Mena where organisations sometimes lack understanding of cybersecurity requirements; businesses find it diff icult to support new staff with necessary training; and qualified talent can be hard to find.”However, given that the region has one of the world’s youngest populations and highest youth unemployment rates, it said there is tremendous opportunity to better engage millennials in the cyber workforce.“Data from the World Bank shows that the millennial generation in the Mena comprises approximately one-third of the total population and more than 50% of the labour force. Therefore, there is a huge opportunity to harness their untapped potential,” said Souheil Moukaddem, executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton.Furthermore, as digital natives, many are tech-savvy enough to quickly acclimate and evolve into a cybersecurity occupation with the appropriate formal and on-the-job training, he said.Quoting researches that have shown that the cybersecurity profession aligns with the region’s millennial career motivators, including the ability to continuously learn and have a successful career; the study said the opportunities and career motivators exist, however better preparation and engagement will go a long way in attracting Mena millennials to join the future cybersecurity workforce.“A concerted eff ort is needed to design targeted cyber-awareness campaigns to improve the cybersecurity employee value proposition and engage millennials through government, employer, and academia collaboration,” it said, recommending strategic initiatives to attract and develop millennials for the cybersecurity profession. This includes developing a holistic programme with multiple stakeholders, including government, employers, and academia and supporting it with a professionalised career model, motivation-based recruitment and workforce capacity building.“Looking ahead, employers must identify risk-based and adaptive workforce needs, tailor the employee value proposition, and adopt a hire-and-train strategy to drive cybersecurity capability development...These measures will go a long way in ensuring that cyber careers are top of mind among professionals in the Gulf Co-operation Council,” region according to Ziad Nasrallah, Principal at Booz Allen Hamilton Mena.

QP to integrate operations of SEEF before end of second quarter in 2020Qatar Petroleum (QP) will integrate the operations of SEEF into it before the end of the second quarter of 2020.As a result of this integration, QP Operations (Refining) will be fully operating SEEF’s facilities.This integration is the natural next step of QP’s acquisition of SEEF interests on December 31, 2018, which provided QP with full ownership of SEEF.“This step will allow us to build world-class operations by extracting synergies between QP refining operations and SEEF, and to strengthen our resources, talents and capabilities,” said the hydrocarbons major.This integration marks another step towards achieving QP’s vision to become one of the best national oil companies in the world, and to ensure the reinforcement of Qatar’s continued and sustainable economic growth.QP is an integrated national oil corporation responsible for the sustainable development of the oil and gas industry in Qatar and beyond.

Technicians stand at the Krechba gas treatment plant, about 1,200km south of Algiers (file). Algeria’s natural gas pipeline exports to Europe are getting squeezed by cheaper Russian supplies and a global abundance of the liquefied form of the fuel.

QBA board member Saud al-Mana and other members of the association join Armenian President Armen Sarkissian and his accompanying delegation, including Armenian ambassador Gegham Gharibjanian and other dignitaries during a private meeting held in Doha.

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Monday, November 25, 20192

Electric cars racing at 170 mph are test labs for SUVsBloombergMelbourne

Not every advance in electric-vehicle technology takes place inside the sterile calm of a research laboratory.BMW AG, Volkswagen AG’s Audi and a Silicon Valley-based battery maker are helping push the boundaries by racing electric-powered cars through New York, London and Seoul at speeds topping 170 mph.Breakthroughs made by competitors in Formula E, which began its sixth season last week, are being incorporated into family SUVs and sedans – and even India’s electric rickshaws – as manufacturers seek to improve and extend their electric lineups while nations gradually phase out gas guzzlers. More powerful batteries and better motors, energy-management software and braking systems are all being transferred from the racetrack to the showroom.“What we are doing in Formula E is highly relevant back on the road,” said Dilbagh Gill, chief executive off icer and team principal of India’s Mahindra Racing, the motorsport unit of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. “We are able to come in and help them immediately in improving the product.”Formula E, which began in 2014 with an “E-Prix” in Beijing, has 12 teams, almost all of which involve automakers producing or developing battery-powered vehicles for consumers – such as Nissan Motor Co and Tata Motors Ltd’s Jaguar brand.Volkswagen’s Porsche and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz brand are new participants in the 14-race season that opened on Friday. The schedule runs through July, concluding with the two-day London E-Prix.Last season’s champion was DS Techeetah, the Chinese-owned team of PSA Group’s DS Automobiles. Its DS E-Tense FE20 machine can accelerate from zero to 100 kph (62 mph) in 2.8 seconds.DS Automobiles is taking the powertrain – parts including the motor and inverter – from its Formula E entry and putting it inside a concept car called the DS X E-Tense. It also will use the same operating software across its

planned range of electric passenger vehicles.PSA Group, also home to the Peugeot and Citroen brands, is targeting a fully electrified fleet by 2025.“The cars that win in Formula E are the most energy eff icient, which is largely driven by software,” Paris-based DS Automobiles said. “Everything we do in Formula E with algorithms and software we try to replicate in series production.”Rules intended to limit costs for teams and keep the series competitive mean racers use a standardized lithium-ion battery manufactured by a unit of Newark, California-based Lucid Motors Inc.During the first four seasons of Formula E, drivers needed to change cars in the middle of a race – leaping from one cockpit into another – because the power packs couldn’t complete a whole event, which typically lasts about 45 minutes.Lucid’s batteries, introduced last season, eliminate the need for that switch.“The real reason we are doing this is to demonstrate that we have world-class technology, which will find its way into our forthcoming road car,” said chief executive off icer Peter Rawlinson, previously chief engineer of Tesla Inc’s Model S.The company plans to start producing its Lucid Air sedan in Arizona next year, boasting of a range topping 400 miles and a speed exceeding 200 mph.Lucid’s Formula E batteries pack in more energy than alternatives that are commercially available for regular cars, said James Frith, a London-based analyst for BloombergNEF.“If Lucid can transfer this technology to commercial electric vehicles, it could give them a real advantage,” he said.Another key focus for Mahindra, DS Techeetah, Audi and the others is finding the best way to slow a car down.Since most vehicles lose energy as heat when a driver hits the brakes and causes friction, electric race cars use regenerative braking systems. In eff ect, a car’s motor goes into reverse to both slow the wheels and act as a generator to send power back into the battery.The technology helps to boost driving range, meaning passenger cars could

use smaller batteries, said Allan McNish, team principal of Audi Sport ABT Schaeff ler.“Regenerating energy is going to be a key factor for the development of road cars,” said McNish, an ex-Formula 1 driver and a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race.For Nissan, the technology transfer goes both ways, Azusa Momose, a spokeswoman, said. Racing engineers working with the Nissan e.dams team are drawing on the company’s

experience developing the electric Leaf hatchback. “They share the same DNA,” Momose said in an email. Formula E cars are at the leading edge of energy management and powertrain development, she said.Yet not all the gains are connected with technology or software.Mumbai-based Mahindra will share racers’ cockpit tips with India’s auto rickshaw drivers to help them extend their battery’s range between refills. India is home to about 1.5mn battery-powered, three-wheeled rickshaws.

Mahindra is among the manufacturers of electric versions.“As soon as they improve range, their earning capacity improves,” Gill said.Putting high-speed EVs onto circuits using regular city streets is considered another major benefit to the racing series, helping lift the profile of the battery-powered sector in key consumer markets. Formula E races last season drew more than 400,000 spectators and a cumulative TV audience of 411mn people, the series said in September.

Last season’s racers zipped along Brooklyn’s Clinton Wharf and Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. This season, competitors will loop around the National Monument in Jakarta, and, in the UK, teams will tackle a circuit that weaves inside the ExCeL London exhibition center and then back outside onto the city’s Royal Docks.“You are racing in the heart of cities, and that’s where electric vehicles will be driven,” McNish said. “You are eff ectively taking your product to the people.”

Electric vehicles travel along a racetrack during the ABB FIA Formula E Championship in the Brooklyn borough of New York on July 13. Breakthroughs made by competitors in Formula E, which began its sixth season last week, are being incorporated into family SUVs and sedans – and even India’s electric rickshaws – as manufacturers seek to improve and extend their electric lineups while nations gradually phase out gas guzzlers. More powerful batteries and better motors, energy management software and braking systems are all being transferred from the racetrack to the showroom.

BUSINESS3Gulf Times

Monday, November 25, 2019

Westpac in more regulators’ sights as laundering fallout growsBloombergSydney

Westpac Banking Corp’s embattled leader-

ship is in the sights of more Australian

regulators as pressure builds over allega-

tions it breached money-laundering laws

23mn times, including failing to detect

payments linked to child abuse.

Australia’s second-largest lender,

already hit with a civil lawsuit by the

financial crimes agency, now faces a likely

inquiry by the banking regulator which

has the power to disqualify directors and

executives. The securities regulator is

also examining the case and considering

whether to start its own investigation.

Westpac chief executive off icer Brian

Hartzer survived a board meeting on Fri-

day as chairman Lindsay Maxsted issued

an unreserved apology and announced

a team of independent experts would

undertake a review. The bank yesterday

detailed steps to “urgently fix” issues and

said it will withhold all or part of executive

bonuses as it looks into who’s to blame.

The scale of the breaches, one of the

worst cases brought globally in recent

years, has seen Westpac come under

sustained fire from politicians, investors

and shareholder groups since the suit was

announced on November 20. Treasurer

Josh Frydenberg kept up the pressure

on Sunday, saying he’d spoken to both

Hartzer and Maxsted and “made very

clear” the seriousness of the allegations.

“We’re talking about 23mn alleged

breaches of the anti-money laundering laws,

we’re talking about the failure to adequately

assess customers with links to child traf-

ficking and child pornography,” Frydenberg

told Australian Broadcasting Corp television.

“There must be accountability.”

The suit against Westpac alleges that be-

tween November 2013 and June 2019, the

lender failed to report more than A$11bn

($7.5bn) in international transfers. Austrac

has said the systemic breaches were the re-

sult of “indiff erence by senior management

and inadequate oversight by the board.”

Among the most serious allegations,

the Australian Transaction Reports and

Analysis Centre said Westpac failed to

carry out appropriate due diligence on 12

customers whose accounts showed re-

peated low-value transactions to countries

in Southeast Asia including the Philip-

pines, even though it knew these patterns

were indicative of child exploitation risks.

In one case, a customer in October and

November 2014 transferred money to a

person in the Philippines who was later ar-

rested for child traff icking and exploitation

involving the live streaming of child sex

and off ering minors for sex.

“We accept that we have fallen short of

both our own and regulators’ standards

and are determined to get all the facts and

assess accountability,” Maxsted said in a

statement Sunday. The bank will close its

LitePay international payment service and

add another 200 people next year to its

750-strong team tackling financial crime.

Frydenberg said the Australian Pru-

dential Regulation Authority was looking

into the case and had the power under

the Banking Executive Accountability

Regime, which was legislated in 2018, to

disqualify boards and executives. The

regulator could apply to court for a fine

of up to A$500mn, Frydenberg said. An

APRA spokesman confirmed the regulator

was examining the matter and said that as

the BEAR legislation wasn’t retrospective,

whether it applied to Westpac may hinge

on the timing of alleged off ences.

The Australian Securities and Invest-

ments Commission is also considering its

own probe to determine whether there

were any breaches of company law.

While Hartzer’s job as CEO appears

safe for now as he helps lead Westpac’s

response, other local bank executives

have been brought down by scandals in

the past two years.

In August 2017, Ian Narev resigned as

Commonwealth Bank of Australia CEO

less than two weeks after the lender was

sued for more than 53,000 breaches of

money-laundering rules. That case was

eventually settled with the bank paying a

record A$700mn fine.

In February this year, National Australia

Bank Ltd CEO Andrew Thorburn and chair-

man Ken Henry quit after being the target

of withering criticism in a report into

financial industry misconduct.

Frydenberg wouldn’t be drawn into

commenting on whether Hartzer and

Maxsted should be replaced, though

noted there would likely be some “tough

conversations” before the bank’s annual

general meeting on December 12.

Government trade war threatens US-China technology sectorsBloombergHong Kong

While the US-China trade war rages on, the tensions are exposing growing rifts be-

tween China and Silicon Valley.Leading venture capitalists and star-

tup founders expressed concern over their governments’ fi erce diff erences and the potential fallout. Among the dangers are a decline in cross-border investment, disruption in the supply chain and decreased collaboration in fi elds like artifi cial intelligence, wire-less technology and cancer research.

Signs of trouble are emerging in eve-rything from venture capital to movie-making. Fundraising for dollar-based venture capital funds in China is down

75%, estimates Qiming Venture Part-ners’ founding partner Gary Rieschel. Olivia Hao, an executive at Beijing-based fi lm production startup Baozou, said it is increasingly hard to make in-vestments or buy other companies in the US

“Before, people were impressed when we said we had screenwrit-ers from Hollywood,” said Hao on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Beijing. “Now people say, why aren’t you using more Chinese creators.” China and the US are edging closer to a trade deal but the deteriorating situ-ation in Hong Kong and the US bill on the city’s special status threaten to stall negotiations.

The fi ght to rule the technology sec-tor is at the heart of China-US ten-

sions. Over the last few decades, the two countries have woven together a world-spanning supply chain that helped create innovation like Apple Inc’s iPhone and propel industries like AI and robotics.

American money has fl owed into China, lending the capital essential in creating many of the countries’ top technology companies like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Hold-ings Ltd.

Chinese and American engineers have traversed both countries, driving innovation at startups and large com-panies alike. All of that is under the microscope now that the US is clamp-ing down on Chinese investment in the US and scrutinising the capital fl ows between the two countries.

“Foreign capital remains the pri-

mary provider of early stage risk capi-tal in China,” Rieschel said, adding that “82% of venture capital goes to the US and China, these two countries have to work together in areas like AI.” Increasingly, American tech compa-nies, venture capitalists and startups face a narrow choice on how to deal with China: Either take the country at face value and decide that as a rational business, profi ts matter more than any kind of moral high ground, or make a conscious decision to stop pursuing business in a country that will require you to adhere to its viewpoints inside – and outside – its borders.

There are signs that Silicon Val-ley, which long avoided politics and courted a close relationship with Chi-na, is now starting to turn. US venture capital companies and startups are

refusing Chinese limited partners and investors.

There are suspicions around Chi-nese startups in the fi elds of semicon-ductors, artifi cial intelligence and ro-botics who want to do business in the US, or try to attract funds from Ameri-can venture capitalists.

A number of Chinese startups also are souring on the view that Silicon Valley is the bastion of innovation.

“Of course it will take years for Chi-na to catch up on deep tech like chips, but when it comes to areas like logis-tics and retail, China is moving much faster,” said Spencer Deng, founder of startup Dorabot, which is based in Shenzhen but has offi ces in Atlanta. “In the last three years, can you name one new innovation that came from Silicon Valley?” he said.

Dorabot is working with companies like Walmart Inc and United Parcel Service Inc on automated technology.

China is also taking steps to reduce its dependency in key areas of technol-ogy including in chips. “China’s semi-conductor industry is catching up, they will be competitors in the global stage, and it provides a great place for us to invest,” said Neil Shen, managing and founding partner of Sequoia Capi-tal China.

The country’s ambition for its semi-conductor industry grew in recent years as it spends more on importing chipsets than oil each year. Beijing has injected tens of billions of dollars into its young chip sector to build mega factories and attract top talent as the China attempts to reboot its economy with advanced manufacturing.

Pedestrians walk past the Westpac Banking Corp logo displayed at a branch in Brisbane, Australia. Westpac’s embattled leadership is in the sights of more Australian regulators as pressure builds over allegations it breached money-laundering laws 23mn times.

Pakistan retailers feel the pinchof economic slowdownInternewsLahore

Pakistan’s retail sector is looking for some breathing space to remain sustainable during the ongoing

economic slowdown.“The recent hike in taxes on the retail

sector has caused turmoil and uncertain-ty,” said Chainstore Association of Paki-stan chairman Tariq Mehboob.

“In fact, many retailers, which repre-sent the organised retail sector, are ini-tiating cost-cutting measures, which in-clude staff layoff s, closure of outlets and much more.”

He added that almost all retailers were currently making eff orts to sustain their business and were bearing the brunt of being in the documented sector of the economy.

“Unorganised retailers are running their business as usual as they are united and call strikes to pressurise the govern-ment,” the association chairman said while expressing concern.

The association represents 75 compa-nies and 110 brands, and all of them are registered with the Federal Board of Rev-enue (FBR).

However, they regret that this registra-tion is dealing a blow to them.

According to the association, the registered retailers in Pakistan are currently less than 10% while the unregistered retailers have over 90% share.

“In such a scenario, if the government hikes taxes on the organised retailers, which range from 23% to 40% on the in-voice price, the unorganised sector will get the benefi t and the rest will suff er,” Mehboob said.

The retail sector of Pakistan has grown exponentially in the past one decade, however, in the last one year it had started losing the momentum, although it posted a 3.11% growth in fi scal year 2018-19, he added.

“Government’s entire focus is to make businesses tax compliant and end tax evasion,” he added.

“Its efforts are targeted only at the documented sector so tax authorities are trying different methods to in-crease compliance while not bother-ing to touch the unorganised sector as it will create hue and cry and go on a

country-wide strike,” the association chairman said.

He pointed out that it was not the end as the unorganised sector was selling the same goods as the organised sector at much cheaper rates and no one could stop it.

“In a scenario when the country’s dis-posable income is declining, how can you expect a customer to buy an article at high rates when a cheaper alternative is available,” Mehboob asked.

He remarked that in Pakistan a tax of-fi cer was also an auditor, who was always on a lookout to penalise the organised sector.

“If we consider the FBR as a company and taxpayers as customers, then this company has failed to satisfy its cus-tomers and as a result no one is ready to become a customer of the FBR,” he la-mented.

Mehboob said businessmen needed to be genius as they had to deal with 32 gov-ernment departments and become fully compliant. He asked why the government expected businessmen to have an accu-rate knowledge of all the 32 departments while doing business.

He argued that this was the reason why the unorganised sector wanted a fi xed tax regime for it.

“The retail sector has shrunk 10% in the last one year and if the tax structure, coupled with the overall economic slow-down, did not improve, this decline may accelerate to 30% in the next one year, which will result in massive unemploy-ment,” Mehboob added.

According to the retailers, the sector is completing its cycle and all unnecessary investors are exiting the business.

LXY Global CEO Yousuf Jamshed said over 100 retail outlets had shut down since the start of the current fi scal year.

“The number of closures will increase with time and other retailers, mostly or-ganised, will shut shops due to the slow-down in the economy,” he said.

“Customers have stopped spending and are now only purchasing what is nec-essary for them.”

Retailers held the belief that consoli-dation was the key for them to sustain at this point in time as the government had its own economic programme, which was focused on tax compliance rather than widening the tax base, said the CEO of LXY Global – a retail consultancy.

Japan’s GPIF keeps analysts in the dark on portfolioBloombergTokyo

Japan’s Government Pension In-vestment Fund’s decision to not disclose details of its quarterly

allocation breakdown has some ana-lysts saying that the world’s biggest pension fund is backtracking on transparency.

In a statement on November 1, GPIF president Norihiro Takahashi said the fund won’t disclose the allo-cation breakdown, amounts and in-vestment income for each asset class this fi scal year, as it reviews the com-position of its basic portfolio, which totals about ¥161.8tn ($1.5tn). The GPIF subsequently posted quarterly results without the details.

While the GPIF may have opted to hold back the information to cor-

ral market speculation on changes to its portfolio, the move reduces transparency and causes unwanted guessing among investors, according to Hidenori Suezawa, chief strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo.

“It’s clear transparency has re-ceded from this decision,” he said. “It just stirs up even more specula-tion. It brings unnecessary attention to the matter.”

The GPIF president’s proposal to withhold asset details was debated during a board of governors meeting on August 27, according to minutes released on November 1.

During discussions over the new basic portfolio, an unnamed execu-tive managing director cited specu-lation risks seen in other pension funds.

Others in the minutes said it was risky to change the disclosure proce-

dure, with one member saying that it would look “unnatural” for the fund to suddenly not disclose information that had been available to the public.

The fund, which announced its basic portfolio about fi ve years ago, is expected to reveal its new alloca-tion sometime before the fi scal year ends on March 31. The GPIF has a general target to keep 25% of its basic portfolio in domestic stocks and 25% in overseas shares.

The permissible range of deviation is 9% for local equities and 8% for stocks abroad. The target is 35% for domestic bonds and 15% for foreign debt, with a permissible deviation of 10% and 4%.

“There’s a higher chance of GPIF increasing the target for foreign bonds in the next basic portfolio,” said Shuichi Ohsaki, chief rates strategist at Bank of America Mer-

rill Lynch in Tokyo. “For example, foreign bonds may be increased by 5 points, while domestic bonds de-crease by 5 points.” GPIF spokesper-son Nao Honda declined to comment to Bloomberg News on the market’s speculation.

Investors are focused on the GPIF’s holdings of yen-denominated bonds and currency-hedged foreign debt, said Takafumi Yamawaki, head of local rates and FX research at JP-Morgan in Tokyo.

The fund announced last month that it would give itself leeway to buy more bonds from outside its home market by classifying currency-hedged foreign bonds as part of its domestic debt.

“The GPIF is seeking a way to boost its performance,” Yamawaki said. “But it has also caused further speculation by hiding its motives.”

The building housing the Government Pension Investment Fund headquarters in Tokyo. GPIF’s decision to not disclose details of its quarterly allocationbreakdown has some analysts saying that the world’s biggest pension fund is backtracking on transparency.

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Monday, November 25, 20194

High-beta stock trade seizes up right after everyone piled inBloombergNew York

The market, it’s said, fi nds a way to maximise the pain. For everyone who fell in love with

cyclical shares just in time for them to drop the most in two months this week, it’s an adage they can relate to.

Lurches in retail, technology and commodity stocks are spelling trou-ble for newly christened macro bulls, sending an exchange-traded fund that tracks high-volatility shares to its fi rst decline since October. Back on top are health care, utilities and real estate, defensive sectors that dominated all year.

While none of the moves were huge, they stung fund managers who hoped economically sensitive industries were tickets to redemp-tion after 71% of them trailed bench-marks through October. Betting on volatile shares has been a hallmark of late-season recovery strategies that looked like a sure thing as the S&P 500 rallied. This week was a remind-er they’re not.

“Throw the rules out and chase the returns – that’s where investors were heading,” said Jennifer Ellison, principal at San Francisco-based BOS. “We pushed hard against it.”

Among struggling equity manag-ers, a spate of improving economic reports opened their eyes to the possibility a pivot point was at hand for cyclicals. The veil lifted, mutual

funds dutifully raised overweight exposure to the highest level in two years, according to Goldman Sachs, increasing allocations toward indus-trials and semiconductors and away from utilities and staples.

So far in November, industrial, technology, and materials exchange-traded funds have taken in more cash than any other sector, with each on track for the highest monthly fl ows of 2019. Combined, those three in-dustries have absorbed roughly $4.7bn this month, more than the other eight sectors combined, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show.

But that trade is being tested, and an Invesco high-beta ETF that’s

stuff ed with tech, energy, and con-sumer discretionary stocks fell for the fi rst time in fi ve weeks.

“We’ve kind of fl ip-fl opped from a growth expectations standpoint,” said Keith Buchanan, portfolio man-ager for Globalt Investments in At-lanta. Investors have gone from “‘Oh wait, we see the light at the end of the tunnel,’ to now in the past week and a half it’s been, ‘Oh, well things aren’t as good as we thought.’ Expectations are extremely volatile,” he said.

At UBS, Francois Trahan warned that an uptick in US manufacturing coupled with the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts created an illusion that the slowdown is over. But in-terest rates argue the downtrend in

leading economic indicators like the ISM New Orders Index isn’t fi nished, he said. “This is just another false start,” he wrote in a note this week.

Strategists at Wells Fargo Securi-ties recommend investors start sell-ing cyclically exposed stocks. Those shares have beaten most expecta-tions this year and it makes sense to realise gains given that a trade deal between the US and China could be pushed to next year or could fall apart, said Chris Harvey, a senior analyst at the bank.

Of particular concern to bulls are fi ssures forming on the consumer front, whose strength has been the bulwark of the economy. Weak earn-ings from Home Depot Inc and Kohl’s Corp this week sparked fresh doubts about whether American consumers will keep spending through the holi-days. Both cut their annual forecasts for the second time this year.

The gap between US two- and 10-year Treasury yields, viewed by many as a proxy for future growth, is also starting to seed anxiety. It recorded eight straight days of narrowing as trade negotiations between the US and China showed few signs of reso-lution.

“Recently with this fatigue, with it dragging on and on and on and on and not getting across the fi nish line, I think that investors now are start-ing to worry again that we may not see that phase one in 2019,” Chris Gaff ney, president of world markets at TIAA, said by phone.

Berkshire takes on short sellers with bet on furniture retailerBloombergNew York

Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s new wager on furniture retailer RH has Warren Buff ett’s company in a place it rarely finds itself: invested in a heavily shorted stock.RH is the most popular short in the home-furnishing retail sector with 37% of the shares available to trade on loan to bears, according to data from financial analytics firm S3 Partners. The disclosure last week that Berkshire bought 1.2mn shares in the third quarter sent RH soaring to a fresh record. The rally hasn’t shaken the faith of short sellers, who profit when the price of a stock falls. Short interest in RH has barely changed since Berkshire revealed its purchase.The retailer formerly known as Restoration Hardware has a couple of traits that undoubtedly appealed to Berkshire. For one, Buff ett likes to stick to areas he knows best when selecting stocks. Berkshire counts at least four furniture retailers among its portfolio of companies, including Nebraska Furniture Mart which has a sprawling 80-acre campus in Buff ett’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.“They have a certain limited circle of competence and within that circle of competence is furniture stores,” said David Kass, a professor of finance at the University of Maryland’s Robert H Smith School of Business.RH, known for luxe decor like sofas that can cost more than $5,000, also has an appetite to repurchase its own stock. The billionaire investor and his business partner, Charlie Munger, “rejoice” when managers buy back stock and boost Berkshire’s stake, Buff ett said in his annual shareholder letter this year. Since 2017, RH has repurchased about 60% of its previously outstanding stock, it said in September.The relatively small size of Berkshire’s stake in RH, which totalled $206mn at the end of the third quarter compared to Berkshire’s $56bn bet on Apple Inc, likely indicates it was made by one of Buff ett’s two investing deputies, Todd Combs or Ted Weschler, according to Kass. Berkshire didn’t respond to messages seeking comment on which investment manager purchased the stake.Whoever made the RH bet likely perceived the stock as under-priced at the time of

purchase, even if it was high on an absolute basis, according to Kass. And Berkshire hasn’t shied away from buying stocks at relatively high levels. One of the deputies has spent the past year snapping up Amazon.com Inc shares, which now trade around $1,745 and more than 80 times estimated profits.“Maybe they saw a certain growth opportunity here that other analysts are missing,” said Kass. “Much of their investment career is to try to find those rare under-priced opportunities where they expect to outperform the market.” Short sellers are no doubt attracted to the rapid advance of RH shares. The Tracy, California-based company has gained more than six-fold since 2017 as chief executive off icer Gary Friedman managed to re-ignite revenue growth by drawing more customers to its brick-and-mortar stores at a time when consumer purchases are increasingly being made online.That strategy is probably at the heart of the RH short thesis as Friedman has “gone against the grain with building big stores,” said John Baugh, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co, who has a buy rating on the stock.Baugh thinks RH’s push to become more of a destination is the right move, one that will continue to drive traff ic with high-end furniture that people feel the need to see in person and touch. While 9 of the 22 analysts tracked by Bloomberg that cover RH have buy ratings, the majority are neutral. Anthony Chukumba, a Loop Capital Markets analyst, downgraded the stock to hold from buy on Thursday on concerns about valuation. He sees the upside potential and downside risks as fairly balanced at current levels. Still, Chukumba remains positive on RH’s fundamental performance, which he said has been aided by the introduction of a customer membership programme.Hennessy Investment Funds, which owns more than $18mn in RH shares, expects Friedman’s strategy to continue to improve financial results.RH’s “earnings trajectory has been very good,” said portfolio manager Ryan Kelley. “I think they still have a lot more they can do to fortify their position.” For Berkshire, so far the bet has been a good one, assuming it hasn’t sold the stock. Even if Berkshire bought at the highest point in the third quarter, RH shares have gained 13% since then.

Citadel Securities teams up with banks in a bid to grow in FXBloombergNew York

Billionaire Ken Griff in’s trading powerhouse Citadel Securities is scaling up in the $6.6tn-a-day currency market by agreeing to work with banks rather than fight them.The electronic market maker says it has plugged into eight banks’ foreign-exchange platforms, supplying liquidity to their clients who want orders filled by what’s known as FX execution algorithms, or computer programs that automate investors’ transactions. This will let Citadel Securities tap into a growing segment of the industry without going to the trouble of building its own roster of algo customers.Kenneth Griff in But why enter such a pact, telling banks it won’t try to poach their buy-side customers? Citadel Securities has decided it would take too much time and too many resources to duplicate banks’ giant customer bases in FX.“We can access and benefit more of the market by partnering with banks than by having our own algo product,” Kevin Kimmel, New York-based global head of electronic FX at Citadel Securities, said in an interview. “If we can be a key partner to all the banks, then we have much more breadth and access to the whole market.” Electronic market makers play a major role in FX trading. XTX Markets, HC Technologies, Jump Trading and Citadel Securities together handle about 20% of volume, according to the annual Euromoney FX survey published this year.At Citadel Securities, “our goal is to be the leading wholesale market maker servicing banks and brokers in FX,” Kimmel said. The company is following

a diff erent path in fixed income, where it competes head-to-head with banks. In Treasuries, it’s taking them on in the dealer-to-client segment of the business, trading directly with investors. And it’s working toward becoming a primary dealer, a privileged status in Treasuries that many big banks already have.In FX, “algos create an opportunity for us to complement” the banks’ businesses, said Joe Mecane, head of execution services at Citadel Securities.For banks, the allure may be that they get to keep the clients and also get help completing their orders from one of the biggest traders in the world.The currency market is about 80% electronic, according to research firm Greenwich Associates. Within that segment, the use of FX execution algos expanded last year to about 20% of market participants, after being stuck ranging between 13% and 16% for at least five years, according to survey data compiled by Greenwich.That growth in FX algos was led by real-money accounts – industry jargon for mutual funds, pensions and the like. Investors are clamouring to adopt the trading mechanism because it off ers more choices and flexibility in the currency market where margins are under pressure. Most buy-side users prefer algo trading when executing large trades to minimise market impact, or prices moving against them, according to a survey of 100 FX algo users interviewed by Greenwich. They often turn to them during times of the day when liquidity is sparse, the survey found.“We are the first disclosed liquidity provider to the client algo off erings of several banks, which means they know they’re trading with us and can measure our performance,” Kimmel said.

Wall Street investors pin hopes on a rally to fi nish off 2019ReutersNew York

A year after the US stock market plunged, many investors believe conditions are in place to avoid

another year-end pullback and possi-bly set the stage for a rally to finish off 2019.

A more accommodative Federal Re-serve compared with a year ago is an important argument for investors who are confident the market is unlikely to see a repeat of 2018’s swoon.

Last year, investors were concerned the Fed was raising interest rates too quickly.

By contrast, the Fed has been cut-ting rates this year, and while the cen-tral bank is not expected to lower rates again in December, it also is not ex-pected to raise them.

Another change from a year ago, cit-ed by investors: Stock markets globally are more synchronised in their strong performance.

“The prospects this year are better,”

said Michael Antonelli, market strate-gist at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee. “It’s not just the US that’s doing well right now. It’s happening in lots of places around the globe, and that puts investors in a more risk-taking mood.”

One wild card for markets heading into year-end is the US’ trade war with China.

The dispute remains unresolved, but there is optimism about a preliminary US-China trade agreement that could also lift stocks into the New Year.

Investors are still wary of last year’s stock market collapse. The benchmark S&P 500 fell 19.8% – barely avoiding a bear market – between September 20 and December 24.

The index’s 2.7% collapse on the eve of the Christmas holiday marked the bottom, and the S&P 500 registered its biggest percentage decline for a fourth quarter since 2008, the height of the financial crisis.

“It’s in the back of everyone’s mind. We’re all worried if there’s going to be another big selloff in December,” said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist

at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“We don’t think so,” he said. What’s more, with the current strength in markets globally, “you could have a chase into the end of the year.”

Equity indexes around the world have joined US stock averages in recent weeks in setting new highs. So far this year, Europe’s Stoxx 600 is up about 19% and recently hit its highest level in more than four years.

At this last year, the S&P 500 was up about 1% for the year to date, but the European index was down about 9%.

With stock performance at the very end of the year, there is often more at stake than just feeling good around the holidays.

The last five trading days of the year and the first two of the new year com-prise the traditional Santa Claus rally, according to the “Stock Trader’s Alma-nac.” In 2018, the market bounced back after its December 24 plunge, resulting in an overall gain of 1.3% for those sev-en trading sessions – right in line with the historical average, based on the al-

manac’s data going back to 1950. But any absence of a Santa Claus rally could portend rough times for the market in the months ahead.

“Santa’s failure to show tends to precede bear markets, or times stocks could be purchased later in the year at much lower prices,” the almanac says.

A year-end rally could be derailed by any upset on the US-China trade front.

“We’re six weeks removed from the announcement there was going to be a trade deal between the US and China, and it doesn’t seem like we’re neces-sarily closer to hearing about that deal or what it entails,” said Brian Nick, chief investment strategist at Nuveen in New York.

Yet, “the market has continued to push higher on most days on opti-mism the two side are still talking. So there’s room for disappointment there for sure.”

Also, Nick said, the market could have trouble rallying into year-end giv-en the recent sharp move up. “It feels like we maybe we got the Santa Claus rally a little bit early this year.”

An external view of the New York Stock Exchange. A year after the US stock market plunged, many investors believe conditions are in place to avoid another year-end pullback and possibly set the stage for a rally to finish off 2019.

Qatar National BankIndustries QatarMasraf Al Rayan

Ooredoo QpscEzdan Holding Group

Qatar Islamic BankQatar Electricity & Water Co

Mesaieed Petrochemical HoldiBarwa Real Estate Co

Qatar Insurance CoQatar Fuel Qsc

Commercial Bank PsqcDoha Bank Qpsc

Qatar Gas Transport(Nakilat)Qatar International Islamic

Qatar NavigationAl Ahli Bank

Vodafone QatarAamal Co

United Development CoAl Khalij Commercial Bank

Qatar General Insurance & ReQatari Investors Group

Qatar National Cement CoGulf International Services

Al Meera Consumer Goods CoMannai Corporation Qsc

Gulf Warehousing CompanyMedicare Group

Qatar Industrial ManufacturQatar First Bank

Zad Holding CoWidam Food Co

Mazaya Qatar Real Estate DevQatar Islamic Insurance

Doha Insurance CoSalam International Investme

Investment Holding GroupNational Leasing

Dlala HoldingAl Khaleej Takaful Group

Qatar & Oman Investment CoIslamic Holding Group

Qatar Cinema & Film DistribQatar Exchange Index Etf

Qatar German Co For Medical

19.41

10.21

3.85

7.17

0.64

15.05

16.17

2.57

3.40

3.11

23.31

4.38

2.52

2.52

9.56

6.10

3.40

1.20

0.73

1.46

1.23

2.70

1.66

5.76

1.77

15.49

3.14

5.19

8.58

3.35

0.31

13.91

6.99

0.72

6.65

1.05

0.41

0.54

0.69

0.64

2.12

0.50

2.04

2.21

10.15

0.61

0.10

0.10

0.00

-0.55

0.16

-0.53

0.00

-0.77

-0.58

-0.96

0.21

-2.23

0.00

0.40

1.81

0.33

0.00

-0.83

-1.88

2.10

0.82

5.06

-0.60

-0.69

-1.12

0.00

-0.32

1.37

1.90

1.52

0.65

-0.64

1.16

0.28

-2.21

0.00

0.49

0.00

-1.29

0.16

-0.93

0.00

0.49

0.00

0.40

-0.33

1,172,820

422,426

1,012,917

623,217

3,242,633

892,182

409,984

2,598,804

892,501

257,392

237,801

735,101

1,104,085

756,136

1,916,390

91,256

-

2,732,543

8,242,261

850,121

297,511

199,962

132,215

434,731

159,760

46,518

33,390

612,970

87,228

23,097

3,546,592

1,788

305,445

117,569

128,246

206,089

251,781

435,038

67,529

162,620

275,178

9,679

881,855

-

500

223,264

QATAR

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

KUWAIT

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

OMAN

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

KUWAIT

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

KUWAIT

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

LATEST MARKET CLOSING FIGURES

Oman PackagingOman Orix Leasing Co.

Oman Oil Marketing CompanyOman National Engineering An

Oman Investment & FinanceOman Intl Marketing

Oman Hotels & Tourism CoOman Foods International

Oman Flour MillsOman Fisheries CoOman Fiber Optics

Oman Europe Foods IndustriesOman Education & Training In

Oman ChromiteOman Chlorine

Oman Ceramic CompanyOman Cement Co

Oman Cables IndustryOman Agricultural Dev

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

Celebrity National FinancialNational 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 CattlefeedDhofar Beverages Co

Construction Materials IndComputer Stationery Inds

Bankmuscat SaogSohar International Bank

Bank NizwaBank Dhofar Saog

Areej Vegetable Oils SaocAloula Co

Al-Omaniya Financial ServiceAl-Hassan Engineering Co

Al-Fajar Al-Alamia CoAl-Anwar Ceramic Tiles Co

Al Suwadi PowerAl Shurooq Inv Ser

Al Sharqiya Invest HoldingAl Maha Petroleum Products M

Al 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 & Inv

0.27

0.00

0.98

0.12

0.12

0.52

0.00

0.00

0.68

0.08

0.00

1.00

0.24

3.64

0.38

0.42

0.25

0.65

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0.07

0.17

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5.00

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0.09

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0.22

0.14

0.70

3.92

0.19

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0.16

0.06

0.18

0.19

0.13

1.25

0.12

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0.31

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0.11

0.15

6.80

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0.08

0.39

0.06

0.10

0.00

0.49

0.18

0.30

0.17

1.28

0.17

0.26

0.04

0.26

0.45

0.11

0.09

0.12

0.00

0.53

0.10

0.02

0.75

0.15

0.07

0.00

0.09

0.78

0.20

0.08

0.02

0.31

0.55

0.14

0.15

0.06

0.88

0.07

1.13

0.07

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.68

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

7.93

0.00

0.00

1.47

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.45

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.53

0.00

0.00

-7.87

0.00

0.00

1.62

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0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.35

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

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0.45

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0.00

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0.00

0.00

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0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

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0.00

6.90

0.00

1.47

1.37

-1.56

0.00

-1.39

0.00

0.00

-

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-

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-

-

-

-

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-

-

-

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407,283

-

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-

638,068

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-

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479,801

229,500

113,398

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146,000

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236,145

-

15,000

-

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125,000

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7,000

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725,566

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347,151

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489,200

-

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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 KNational Shooting Company

Al-Themar Real InternationalAl-Ahleia Insurance Co Sakp

Wethaq Takaful Insurance CoSalbookh Trading Co Kscp

Aqar Real Estate InvestmentsHayat Communications

Kuwait Packing Materials MfgSoor Fuel Marketing Co KscAlargan International RealBurgan Co For Well Drilling

Kuwait Resorts Co KsccOula Fuel Marketing Co

Palms Agro Production CoIkarus Petroleum Industries

Mubarrad Holding Co KscAl Mowasat Health Care Co

Shuaiba Industrial CoAan Digital Services Co

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 Kscc

7.90

54.30

118.00

20.50

835.00

0.00

57.50

0.00

13.50

0.00

42.00

0.00

41.00

420.00

20.00

40.00

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22.00

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0.00

84.50

69.20

19.60

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252.00

1,220.00

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431.00

28.50

43.30

78.00

39.50

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118.00

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84.60

57.90

119.00

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0.00

62.00

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138.00

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46.00

25.10

64.90

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60.00

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86.50

47.50

170.00

12.60

225.00

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62.00

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31.00

272.00

100.00

574.00

0.00

280.00

26.30

244.00

52.00

990.00

434.00

200.00

34.60

136.00

312.00

219.00

15.70

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63.30

54.60

30.90

8.40

38.90

445.00

31.50

50.50

0.00

79.80

17.50

41.40

-1.25

1.31

-0.84

5.67

1.83

0.00

-4.17

0.00

-0.74

0.00

2.44

0.00

1.23

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.85

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.02

-1.01

0.00

8.62

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

5.10

5.41

12.86

0.00

0.00

0.00

-10.00

5.27

-0.83

-57.63

0.00

0.81

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

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8.17

0.00

0.00

-0.27

1.17

-1.04

0.00

5.00

-0.44

0.00

1.31

0.00

-1.27

-0.73

0.00

0.53

0.00

0.00

-5.05

-0.81

0.00

0.61

0.46

0.00

0.29

2.26

-0.32

0.00

-4.85

0.00

-14.46

-1.97

4.39

1.20

2.64

0.00

1.29

0.20

0.00

6.26

0.00

9.23

3,967,496

197,424

424,219

23,769,070

359,768

-

99,000

-

280,176

-

4,581,786

-

40,000

-

-

-

-

894,268

-

-

248,050

540,693

111,065

-

1,833,260

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-

-

-

6,210,112

200,000

1,000

-

15,716

-

994

1,130,974

5,387

791

-

198,334

-

-

-

-

1,635,000

395,625

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78,897

372,941

1,113,942

150,730

-

213,700

738,864

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623

-

300,052

1,939,284

-

1,056,593

-

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1,996,874

1,000

-

25,130

50

-

483,939

400,550

915,476

925,545

4,480,222

-

1,900

463,985

11,571,551

195,620

641,032

-

235,955

193,000

-

56,990

-

20,001

Ithmaar Holding BscAviation Lease And Finance C

Arzan Financial Group For FiAjwan Gulf Real Estate Co

Kuwait Business Town Real EsFuture Kid Entertainment And

Specialities Group Holding CAbyaar Real Eastate Developm

Dar Al Thuraya Real Estate CAl-Dar National Real Estate

Kgl Logistics Company KsccCombined Group Contracting

Jiyad Holding Co KscQurain Holding Co

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 Services

Alimtiaz Investment GroupRas Al Khaimah White Cement

Kuwait Reinsurance Co KscKuwait & Gulf Link Transport

Humansoft Holding Co KscAutomated Systems Co Kscc

Metal & Recycling CoGulf Franchising Holding Co

Al-Enma’a Real Estate CoNational Mobile Telecommuni

Al Bareeq HoldingHousing Finance Co Sak

Al Salam Group Holding CoUnited Foodstuff Industries

Al Aman Investment CompanyMashaer Holding Co Ksc

Manazel HoldingMushrif Trading & Contractin

Tijara And Real Estate InvesKuwait Building Materials

Jazeera Airways Co KscCommercial Real Estate Co

Future Communications CoNational International Co

Taameer Real Estate Invest C

22.30

261.00

23.60

13.70

40.40

91.00

76.00

9.50

120.00

0.00

36.60

245.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

61.00

564.00

267.00

100.10

57.50

311.00

900.00

13.80

0.00

24.30

132.00

86.00

1,150.00

128.00

66.00

158.00

61.60

3,094.00

71.00

52.00

135.00

65.50

750.00

100.00

0.00

29.50

0.00

55.00

78.00

41.00

0.00

44.00

0.00

1,055.00

94.40

0.00

62.40

27.10

0.00

-0.38

-0.84

-0.72

-0.49

0.00

1.60

1.06

0.00

0.00

-1.35

0.41

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.81

0.53

1.14

0.00

2.68

0.00

0.00

-2.13

0.00

0.00

0.00

-3.15

0.00

0.79

-9.47

0.00

-2.84

1.64

9.23

0.00

125.00

2.34

-2.60

0.00

0.00

-0.67

0.00

0.00

-1.27

7.89

0.00

-7.95

0.00

0.48

1.51

0.00

3.31

-2.52

-

133,687

2,740,499

1,727,000

120,000

-

491,828

6,938,567

-

-

608,450

1,081,559

-

-

-

97,024

135,093

4,362,231

-

70,000

384,156

-

412,404

-

-

660,499

7,871

-

1,053,149

11,310

-

591,355

10

6,612

-

10

5,950,249

5,657

-

-

1,950,833

-

53,147

333,510

2,207,310

-

2,305

-

42,892

10,837,601

-

52,200

1,989,554

OMAN

Company Name % 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 Co

0.18

1.00

2.40

0.07

0.13

0.12

0.11

0.55

0.06

0.00

0.07

1.05

1.19

0.29

0.12

0.60

0.50

1.38

2.84

0.32

0.45

0.00

0.07

2.21

0.54

0.34

0.32

0.00

0.62

1.25

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

0.83

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

4.64

6.16

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.37

0.00

2.58

0.00

0.00

0.00

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

5,900

-

-

-

100,392

-

-

-

-

1,286,779

920,796

-

502,381

-

81,000

10,000

1,085,000

-

2,850

-

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

0.00

-5.47

-0.85

0.53

5.52

0.00

9.94

0.00

0.00

0.74

-0.53

1.03

0.64

0.41

0.40

0.75

-0.72

0.00

-2.59

-1.21

0.00

3.50

-

370,080

5,332

856,538

900,157

-

847,120

9,768

-

950,822

129,285

144

837,684

2,316,910

4,070

3,376,788

1,027,738

-

1,637,855

96,155

-

977,998

0.00

50.10

350.00

95.00

191.00

0.00

54.20

163.00

25.30

41.00

745.00

293.00

316.00

983.00

507.00

268.00

276.00

40.00

26.30

24.40

850.00

71.00

Lt Price

Bulls rush into ‘big six’ banks with $39bn surge in CanadaBloombergToronto

Canada’s biggest banks are fi nally pulling their weight. Shares of the na-

tion’s largest lenders, known as the “Big Six,” are staging a come-back amid the central bank’s re-sistance to cutting interest rates. Over the last three months, the stocks have climbed 12% – al-most doubling the rally in the country’s benchmark equity in-dex – for an increase of C$52bn ($39bn) in value.

Canadian banks have rallied in November even after some dis-appointing economic reports. While the nation is nowhere near peak growth, data so far this year have been strong enough to keep policy makers from lowering borrowing costs.

A report on Friday showed retail sales beat economist es-timates, reinforcing the Bank of Canada’s view that the consumer remains resilient despite global trade tensions.

The strong economic data and the absence of rate cuts are “all very positive news for the Cana-dian banking sector, and over the past few months, have translated into solid market gains,” Meny Grauman, an analyst at Cormark Securities, said in a note to cli-ents.

Another potential driver for the shares is the banks’ upcom-ing fi scal fourth-quarter results. They’re expected to post an av-erage 4% increase in adjusted earnings-per-share, according to the median of estimates com-piled by Bloomberg. That’s down

from the average of 5.2% growth reported in the previous quarter.

“The banks, because of the po-sitioning that they have in Cana-da, are kind of protected species,” said John Kinsey, a money man-ager at Caldwell Securities in Toronto. “They seem to do rather well no matter what.” Here’s our weekly wrap of what happened in Canada.

The S&P/TSX snapped four weeks of gains and declined 0.4% as investors awaited news on the US-China trade deal.

The pot-stock rebound didn’t last long after surging for most of

this week as some analysts called the bottom. Still, the ETFMG Al-ternative Harvest ETF eked out a gain this week, its biggest in more than a month.

The Canadian two-year yield rose to 1.58% on Friday, while the 10-year yield edged up to 1.47%. Both stayed below their US counterparts. Click here for our weekly bond wrap.

On a separate note, a think tank is number crunching assets that may potentially be writ-ten down by Canadian energy companies in order to limit C02 emissions.

The loonie weakened as trade risks outweighed comments from Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz that monetary conditions are “about right.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his new cabinet as he started a second term in power after losing parliamentary ma-jority. In total, Trudeau named 36 cabinet ministers, half of them women. For the complete list of his cabinet, read this.

A strike at Canadian National Railway Co put pressure on Tru-deau to take action amid cur-tailing shipments from one the

world’s biggest exporters of raw materials.

Poloz, speaking during an on-stage interview in Toronto, said the economy is doing well overall, driven by housing and services, while infl ation is on target. He said Canadian monetary policy right now remains stimulative, temper-ing market expectations for a re-duction in borrowing costs at the central bank’s Dec. 4 rate decision.

All eyes will now be on third-quarter gross domestic product data due on November 29. A day earlier, current-account fi gures will be released.

BUSINESS5Gulf Times

Monday, November 25, 2019

S&P stands by its Hong Kong rating despite turmoilBloombergTokyo

Hong Kong’s unique ac-cess to mainland Chi-na will keep the city

as an Asian fi nancial hub and its credit rating intact despite ongoing protests, according to S&P Global Ratings.

Hong Kong has “much bet-ter access” to China’s main-land market compared to any other country and this advan-tage will not go away in wake of the protests, Kim Eng Tan, senior director of sovereign ratings at the ratings fi rm, said in an interview.

He said he doesn’t expect many of the demands of the protesters to be met by the Hong Kong government giv-en that any change would be subject to approval by China.

Demonstrators and riot po-lice clash during a protest on November 18.

“I don’t think this thing is likely to be a structural story in Hong Kong, in that it prob-ably will clear up at some point, just not in the near fu-ture or foreseeable future,” Tan said. On credit metrics, “we haven’t seen weakening enough to change our mind about the rating either now, or in the next one to two years.”

The economy will per-form worse than expected but Hong Kong will still likely be one of the out-performers among high income coun-tries, according to Tan. Ear-lier this month, Hong Kong revised down its estimate for

economic growth this year, with the government now forecasting the fi rst annual contraction since the global fi nancial crisis a decade ago.

S&P’s view contrasts with that of Moody’s Investors Service Inc, which changed its outlook on Hong Kong’s Aa2 issuer rating to negative from stable in September, cit-ing growing risk that protests will undermine the city’s at-tractiveness as a trade and fi -nancial hub.

Earlier this month, Fitch Ratings Inc also downgraded Hong Kong as an issuer of long-term, foreign currency debt for the fi rst time since 1995, saying that the territory’s recent polit-ical turmoil raises doubts about its governance.

Tan says the protests did impact S&P’s assessment of Hong Kong in some areas in-cluding its view on the coun-try’s ability to implement policies and react to future shocks, which has been “sig-nifi cantly reduced.” Fiscal performance will not be as strong as it had been before, he added.

Still, to Tan, the weakened assessment doesn’t call for change to Hong Kong’s AA+ rating and outlook.

“Fundamentally, the reason why Hong Kong remains as an important fi nancial centre as it does today is due to very strong structural reasons,” Tan said. “People may be preparing contingency plans, but I don’t think anyone has expressed in-tention to move big scale out of Hong Kong at this point.”

BUSINESS9Gulf Times

Monday, November 25, 2019

Londoners are taking to canal boats to beat high property costsBloombergLondon

In London, which suff ers from one of

the most expensive property markets in

Europe, thousands have found alternative

housing for less than the cost of a parking

space — though it helps if you can repair

an engine or plug a leaky hull.

Narrowboats, which aren’t much wider

than a king-sized bed, have gained in

popularity for those willing to sacrifice

space and some creature comforts. Moor-

ings on the city’s 100-mile canal network

can be had for around £1,000 ($1,284) a

year. The waterways crisscross the me-

tropolis, allowing boaters to live in posh

areas such as Primrose Hill and St John’s

Wood at a fraction of the cost paid by their

land-based neighbours.

Even with Brexit holding down price

increases, London homes averaged more

than £609,000 in November, about 20

times the cost of a secondhand 60-foot

narrowboat. The city is now home to over

4,200 canal boats, more than double the

number of a decade ago. Authorities are

scrambling to create additional moorings

to avoid the same kind of jump in living

costs that drove people to the water in the

first place.

Liam Mertens, 28, a self-employed art-

ist, struggled to qualify for a mortgage

and decided to try canal life. He and his

partner spent £83,000 for a 60-foot nar-

rowboat. About two-thirds of the price

went to cover a coveted permanent moor-

ing where they can remain connected to

the power grid, get water and deal with

sewage.

“We were in a rental situation and we

didn’t really have job stability to get a

mortgage and we wanted to stay in Lon-

don,” he said. “It was the best way to have

our own space and stay.”

The couple set about fixing up the boat,

ripping out the walls and redoing the

bedroom and the bathroom. Mertens

honed his plumbing skills and learned

about electric systems and motors, critical

knowledge on the canals, where many

problems can’t wait for a contractor to

arrive.

“There are moments I felt like crying,

for sure,” he said. “Now, I feel it’s under

control.”

Mertens is one of the fortunate ones with

a permanent mooring. Prices for the spac-

es have been swelling, given the growing

demand. Some of the choicest moorings

now cost more than £12,000 a year and

have seen annual increases of 15%.

Partly due to the rising costs, most of

the new demand is for permits allowing

“continuous cruising,” which can be had

for a fraction of a permanent berth and

prices tend to rise in line with inflation. But

there’s a catch: boaters can only remain in

one spot for two weeks before moving on.

To keep their licence, they are expected to

travel within a 20-mile radius throughout

the year.

Cruising requires a lot more planning

and navigation skills. The boaters must

be mindful of loading up on water and

dealing with waste disposal at the stations

sprinkled across the canal network. Navi-

gating the canals means passing through

locks, which are manually operated and

generally require at least two people to

open. The constant change of address

complicates commuting or getting chil-

dren to school.

“There is a much younger demographic

of boaters than we have in other places,”

said Matthew Symonds, national boating

manager at the Canal & River Trust, which

manages the canal network. “It’s more

aff ordable, if you don’t mind living in a

slightly smaller space.”

An annual continuous cruising licence

costs about a £1,000 for a typical 60-foot

narrowboat. The trust estimated in 2018

that the number of boats in London could

increase by more a third, or almost 1,700,

by 2022. The group expects as much as

70% of those to be continuous cruisers.

Symonds is leading the Canal & River

Trust’s new mooring strategy that if imple-

mented would add 1,800 meters of long-

term mooring, or about 100 new spaces,

and improve the network of temporary

berths. Maintenance of the ageing system

is a constant challenge for the trust.

The bulk of the network was developed

in the 18th century to link the manufac-

turing heartland with London, and the

canals were crucial to the UK’s rise as an

industrial power. Expanding train and road

transport eventually made the network

obsolete, and it fell into a long period of

neglect and disrepair. Restoration in the

1970s for leisure purposes helped expand

canal living as rising property prices made

narrowboats a cheaper and bucolic alter-

native to city life.

Boaters are free to roam the entire

2,000-mile national canal system, which

stretches to Manchester and Leeds in the

north. A trip that far would take about four

weeks, given that the boats don’t move

much faster than someone walking along

the waterway.

The River Thames isn’t part of the

network, but also allows for water living

with much more space and comfort than

on the narrow canals. Mike Leitch got

hooked on the lifestyle after keeping a

narrowboat in a gritty industrial area of

West London for weekend getaways while

working in Germany as European Director

of Piab Group, an automation and robotics

company.

“It was an industrial area, but if you are

looking down and up the canal from the

boat, it was just stunning,” he said. “There

were beautiful sunrises and sunsets and

the swans are there. You could imagine

you were living in paradise.”

Upon his permanent return to London in

2016, he wanted to be back on the water

but he had something a bit grander in

mind. He bought a 120-foot, 100-tonne

barge in the Netherlands and sailed it

across the English Channel and up the

Thames. He now moors in Battersea,

where the berth alone cost as much as

a small apartment – about £500,000.

The vessel has an eat-in kitchen, two

bedrooms, a spacious living room and a

retractable sunroof. There’s even a motor-

cycle workshop where Leitch has enough

space to tinker on several bikes at a time.

Life on the Thames with ferries plying the

river and a heliport nearby is not as peace-

ful as the canals, but Leitch still loves

being on the water.

“Every time I walk down the pier, I say to

myself, you’re a lucky guy,” he said.

Pedestrians pass narrowboats and barges as they walk along the Regent’s Canal towpath in the King’s Cross district of London (file). In the city, which suffers from one of the most expensive property markets in Europe, thousands have found alternative housing for less than the cost of a parking space — though it helps if you can repair an engine or plug a leaky hull. Narrowboats, which aren’t much wider than a king-sized bed, have gained in popularity for those willing to sacrifice space and some creature comforts.

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Monday, November 25, 201910

Can the Fed Fight inequality? Kashkari says yes, hires an allyBloombergNew York

From Bernie Sanders to Warren Buff ett, almost

everyone says US inequality is a problem. In 2019,

big ideas about how to solve it have been in the air.

One of the most unlikely solutions is emerging from

a far-flung corner of the Federal Reserve.

Neel Kashkari, the outspoken dove at the Minneap-

olis Fed, says monetary policy can play the kind of

redistributing role once thought to be the preserve

of elected off icials. While that likely remains a

minority view among US central bankers, Kashkari

has helped lay the groundwork for a shift in Fed

communication this year.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues in-

voked trade tensions and a slowing global economy

as they reversed course and cut rates three times in

2019. But they’ve also off ered new explanations for

their actions, focused on low-paid Americans.

Policy makers have acknowledged getting labour

markets wrong in the recent past, and say they’ve

learned from community outreach this year that

many Americans haven’t felt the benefits of the

economy’s long expansion.

All this rethinking has bolstered the case for keep-

ing rates low at times when prices aren’t rising

much — like the past quarter-century or so. And if

the new ideas take hold, America’s next economic

upswing may be overseen by a Fed that’s less

inclined to raise rates in response.

As recently as 2018, both the policy and the ration-

ale were diff erent.

The Fed was tightening policy pre-emptively to

foreclose on the risk that inflation would rise as

unemployment fell. It also had plenty of experience

of the damage that excessive inflation could do, not

least to poorer Americans. Its guiding doctrine said

that moving rates around can shift prices — but not

the structure of job markets, or the prevalence of

inequality.

That was seen as a task for politicians who control

government spending and taxes. When Kashkari, a

year into his job, launched an in-house eff ort in 2017

to examine widening disparities in the economy,

he was expecting to generate research that might

inform lawmakers’ decisions, rather than the Fed’s.

“We had historically said: distributional outcomes,

monetary policy has no role to play,” he said in an

October interview. “That was kind of the standard

view at the Fed, and I came in assuming that. I now

think that’s wrong.”

Kashkari’s project has taken an unexpected turn

over the last two years, morphing into something

more ambitious. It has the potential to transform

an intensely political debate about inequality into

a scientific endeavour that the Fed’s 21st-century

technocrats could take up.

This year, he finally found someone to lead it:

Abigail Wozniak, a Notre Dame economics profes-

sor, became the first head of the Minneapolis Fed’s

Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute.

Back in 2015, when her eventual boss Kashkari was

taking a career break after a failed bid to become

Republican governor of California, Wozniak was a

member of President Barack Obama’s Council of

Economic Advisers — where her work helped pave

the way for the Fed’s paradigm shift.

What ultimately changed Kashkari’s mind – and

surprised many Fed insiders — was the way the US

economy kept creating jobs, even as low jobless

rates suggested that it should’ve been at or near full

employment under old assumptions.

Instead, Americans who’d given up looking for

work after the financial crisis — and who weren’t

therefore counted among the unemployed — were

pouring back into the job market.

While at Obama’s CEA, Wozniak was at the forefront

of trying to figure out why so many men aged 25

to 54 had dropped out, according to Jason Furman,

CEA chair at the time.

“We helped emphasise that supply explanations,

like men not wanting to work, wasn’t a big source of

the problem,” says Furman, who’s now at Harvard.

The issue was weak demand — which implied

the trend could reverse, if policy makers let the

economy heat up enough.

Furman says he took Wozniak to a meeting with

Obama — unusual for someone of her rank — and

they clicked. “It became immediately clear that she

knew more than any of the other economists,” he

says. “What she was saying was really resonating

with him, and moving him.”

Kashkari, who sits on the central bank’s rate-setting

Federal Open Market Committee, wants to utilise

her policy chops as well. He can designate a handful

of advisers with clearance to attend FOMC meet-

ings and says he hopes down the road to bring

Wozniak into that inner circle.

In the meantime, Wozniak has the institute to build

up. Eventually, she says, its work will feed through

into monetary policy too.

One of its priorities has been to build a network

of experts on income and wealth distribution, the

same way the Fed brings in specialists in financial

markets or growth.

“When we need to tap into the research network

and say, what’s the state-of-the-art on this ques-

tion, we can do that quickly because we’re kind of

already there,” Wozniak says.

Mirroring the central bank’s wider eff orts to engage

with the public this year via “Fed Listens” events,

Wozniak is determined to reach beyond the ivory

tower too.

That was evident at Wozniak’s first big event as

head of the Institute, an October 3-4 conference on

housing aff ordability. There were panels crammed

with PhD economists — but also presentations by

local government off icials and activists.

“We look on paper at the unemployment rate or

other statistics and we try to come to a judgment

about what full employment is,” says Mark Wright,

the Minneapolis Fed’s research director. “That’s

very diff erent to what you hear when you’re on the

ground talking to these people.”

The keynote address at the conference dinner was

delivered by Lawrence Lanahan, a Baltimore-based

reporter who wrote a book about housing segrega-

tion. After-dinner conversation quickly turned

into a heart-to-heart on America’s legacy of racial

discrimination.

For Wozniak, it was an example of what the institute

hopes to achieve by bringing together diverse

perspectives and challenging the way people think

about pressing policy issues.

“We do want to try to foster that conversation,”

Wozniak says. “I think that sometimes that means

you take a risk, and you have someone who is

outside the field present a strong view.”

While the Fed may be scanning a wider horizon, its

immediate preoccupation is when or whether to

resume cutting interest rates — or pivot to raising

them.

Testifying in Congress on November 13, Powell

signalled that rates will likely stay on hold absent a

“material reassessment” of the economic outlook.

A key question is whether the Fed’s new focus on

inequality makes it more reluctant to raise rates if

growth accelerates?

Germany wants progress on EU banking union push by DecemberBloombergFrankfurt

Europe’s banking union “ur-gently needs deepening” and Germany expects to see the

fi rst signs of progress by December in its push to speed integration, ac-cording to Finance Minister Olaf Scholz’s deputy.

Work on the third stage of bank-ing union — a common system of deposit insurance — has been hin-dered by political disputes between European Union members. But Scholz this month signalled a sof-tening of his country’s longstand-ing opposition in a move that could help break the deadlock.

“Our position has just been pub-lished so I think we’re still debating a lot of the impulses that we gave,” Joerg Kukies, State Secretary in the Finance Ministry, said in an inter-view with Bloomberg Television on Friday in Beijing. “The key thing is that there will be progress soon. We defi nitely aim to see fi rst results in December.”

Kukies’s comments add to a growing chorus of voices push-ing for some initial progress by next month. Eurogroup President Mario Centeno said on Friday the aim was to have a concrete road map in December for negotiating a joint deposit insurance scheme. In an interview with Handelsblatt newspaper, he added that talks on the proposal would begin in 2020.

Scholz addressed the merits of banking union in a speech in Frank-furt and said it would be preferable to complete the process in parallel rather than in a series of steps.

“If we get a banking union in Europe, then it’s a great chance for more growth, more jobs and com-panies that function better because it helps the real economy and not just the capital markets,” he said at the Goethe University.

Kukies earlier detailed the “sev-eral pillars” on which Germany’s proposals rest. These include “further risk reduction” of non-performing loans and of sovereign

debt on bank balance sheets, as well as “further improvements to the resolution regime” and “har-monisation of minimum taxation.”

“We think that if all these things are moved ahead we can also move ahead on deposit insurance,” he said. “If we improve the resolution regime, if we improve the insolven-cy regime, reduce risks, if we fi nd some enhanced ways of sharing

risk then everyone can benefi t. So it will help everyone to move their red lines.”

Kukies’s comments about the urgency of the task were echoed on Friday by Martin Zielke, the chief executive offi cer of Commerzbank AG.

The European banking market is “far from being a level playing fi eld” and it will require full bank-

ing union to complete it, Zielke said at a conference in Frankfurt. “Ena-bling the development of strong banks is therefore key to a stronger Europe.”

Kukies said there is a “rising awareness” that European banks lack competitiveness compared with peers in the US and China and that the ministry wants to see German banks in particular addressing the

defi cit. He also stressed that the goal of expanding banking union is not to trigger mergers and acquisitions.

“Mergers may be a second-round eff ect but banks can also organically grow their business to become pan-European banks,” he said. “You can set up online banks fairly easily, you don’t have to do a big mergers and acquisitions transaction.”

Joerg Kukies, Germany’s Deputy Finance Minister, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview. “Our position has just been published so I think we’re still debating a lot of the impulses that we gave,” Kukies said on Friday. “The key thing is that there will be progress soon. We definitely aim to see first results in December.”

EU plans $3.9bn fund for startups in ‘valley of death’BloombergBrussels

The European Union is planning a €3.5bn ($3.9bn) fund that will invest in early stage technology in an eff ort to increase the pipeline of innovations that might someday take on giants in the US and China.Traditional venture capital firms typically don’t fund “the famous innovation valley of death,” where science has produced a breakthrough, but a costly and risky research and development phase is still needed before a product could become viable, said Jean-Eric Paquet, the European Commission’s director general for research and innovation, in an interview at the Slush

technology conference in Helsinki. The fund will seek to close that investment gap by providing equity and grant funding to early stage firms in so-called deep tech, such as manufacturing, biotechnology, health-tech and artificial intelligence, he said. It’s set to formally launch in 2021 and will be run by the European Innovation Council, though the final size could change depending on the outcome of budget talks with the bloc’s member states.The EU currently puts money into tech companies through grants from the commission and via the European Investment Fund, which invests venture capital firms but doesn’t have a mandate to take on a lot of risk.“We are hoping to make a big, big impact with

this European Innovation Council,” Paquet said. “We are emulating indeed to an extent the positive features of traditional VCs.”Venture capital in European tech has jumped as the continent’s companies have gotten bigger and as a trade war between the US and China has pushed investors to consider alternatives to the two tech hubs. Capital invested in European companies this year grew to $34.3bn, up from $15.3bn in 2015, according to a report published this week by venture capital firm AtomiCoRead more about the Atomico report here.A pilot phase of the EIC started this summer with a €600mn pool of capital to test the appetite of innovators for combined grant and equity support, Paquet said. The pilot is set to decide on between 50 and 100

projects by the end of the year. The EIC’s fund will be run by external experts who will be required to conduct due diligence and find other participants for a more traditional round once a product moves into a phase where it can be tested.Some investors have already given their nod of approval for the EU’s plans.“The European Commission’s approach to investment in deep tech is, in my view, very thoughtfully designed, laser focused on areas that are not yet viable for venture capital investment,” said Sarah Cannon, a San Francisco-based partner at Index Ventures, a venture capital firm that has invested in European companies, such as payments firm Adyen NV and mobile game maker Supercell Oy.

UK urges banks to end Libor-based swaps from early next year

ReutersLondon

Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it

wants banks to stop off ering Libor-based interest rate

swap contracts from the first quarter of next year.

The FCA has said the compilation of the tarnished Libor

interest rate benchmark — used globally to bench-

mark contracts such as derivatives worth more than

$300tn — is expected to cease at the end of 2021 and be

replaced by Sonia, a rate compiled by the Bank of Eng-

land. “In sterling interest rate swap markets, we will be

encouraging market-makers to make Sonia the market

convention from Q1 2020,” said Edwin Schooling Latter,

the FCA’s director of markets and wholesale policy.

Banks were fined billions of dollars for trying to rig

Libor (the London Interbank Off ered Rate) in its diff er-

ent currency denominations by massaging the quotes

they submitted. Transactions used for central bank

rates are seen as much harder to rig. Schooling Latter

said at this stage, that did not mean there would be no

more sterling Libor swap transactions for those with a

particular reason for preferring Libor over Sonia. But it

did mean making it standard to quote and off er swaps

based on Sonia rather than Libor, he said.

“As infrastructure and liquidity to support Sonia

swaps are already in place, this should be achievable

with relatively little cost,” Schooling Latter said in a

speech in London.

The eff ective deadline ratchets up pressure on mar-

kets to migrate from Libor to new rates compiled by

central banks including the Bank of England, the US

Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

The central banks’ rates are based on actual market

transactions rather than quotes that banks submit.

Regulators want markets to whittle away outstanding

Libor contracts that go beyond the end of 2021, and

avoid adding new contracts to the stockpile.

Schooling Latter said that referencing Sonia instead

of Libor was “now the norm” in new issuance of float-

ing rate sterling bonds and securitisations, with use of

Libor in new mortgages now rare.

However, significant volumes of sterling-denominated

new Libor swaps maturing after the end of 2021 are

still being struck and Libor continues to be common in

corporate lending, he said. The FCA has told regulated

firms they must nominate a senior off icial who is

legally accountable for orderly transition from Libor.

Schooling Latter said it was no longer credible for a firm

to claim it did not know Libor might not survive beyond

the end of 2021, meaning they could face enforcement

action if there is market disruption for customers.

Mediaset, Vivendi legal fight takes a pause

BloombergMilan

Mediaset SpA and Vivendi SA are moving closer to an

agreement to resolve a long-standing legal battle that

would clear the way for the Italian company’s plan

to build a pan-European broadcaster, according to

people familiar with the matter.

After the two companies agreed at a Milan court on

Friday to take more time to reach an accord, a deal

is now more likely and could be reached as soon as

next week, said the people, asking not to be identified

because the discussions aren’t public. The tribunal

hearing was postponed until November 29.

Mediaset is pushing to merge its European opera-

tions into a Dutch holding company as a step toward

creating a wider broadcasting alliance. Vivendi,

the Italian company’s second-biggest shareholder,

complained Mediaset flouted the rights of minority

shareholders and allowed the Berlusconi family to

tighten its grip on the company. Mediaset said on Fri-

day it would hold a shareholders’ meeting on January

10 to approve changes to bylaws that were sought by

Vivendi and requested by a Milan judge.

The tussle over the merger is just the latest skirmish

between the companies, which have been at log-

gerheads for years. Vivendi walked away from a deal

to buy a pay-TV business from Mediaset in 2016 over

a disagreement about the unit’s value, prompting a

lawsuit from the Italian broadcaster that’s dragged

through the courts.

BUSINESS11Gulf Times

Monday, November 25, 2019

Canada’s economy could end up big loser due to rail strikeBloombergOttawa

Canada’s $1.7tn economy has long been closely tied to the ebbs and flows of global trade.Now, a homegrown crisis threatens to hobble its export industries and stunt its already weak growth.Last week, thousands of workers at Canada’s largest rail company walked off the job in one of the largest nationwide labour strikes in recent memory. Shipments of exports like wheat, crude oil and aluminium — largely from its inland prairies and bound for the US and the world — are grinding to a halt. Freight traff ic has clogged up at the border. And shortages of propane risk leaving thousands in the two largest provinces without heat.While the dispute itself, over working conditions and benefits for some 3,200 conductors and yard operators at Canadian National Railway Co, might sound like a local aff air, the economic fallout is anything but. The five-day-old strike could shave off a quarter-point from growth this quarter if it lasts through December 5, when lawmakers, who have the power to

break the impasse, return from a hiatus. That’s considerable considering economists see Canada expanding at just a 1.3% annual rate during the period.CN Rail employees picket during a strike in front of the Intermodal Terminals in Brampton on November 19.And crucially, it’s yet another blow to Canada’s beleaguered manufacturing and agricultural industries, which have been beset in recent years by trade tensions with the US, low commodity prices and high input costs.“We’re going to take a further hit here,” said Pedro Antunes, the chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada. The strike exacerbates a “fundamental, underlying problem that is essentially the competitiveness, attractiveness of investment in Canada.”Economic growth is already decelerating in Canada, partly as a result of ongoing global trade turmoil. For the year, economists see growth of just 1.5% — which would be half the country’s output in 2017.In recent years, rail strikes have rarely lasted more than a few days. Talks between the company and union off icials are ongoing in

Montreal, but have shown few signs of an immediate resolution. On Thursday, CN Rail chief executive off icer Jean-Jacques Ruest said the company off ered the union binding arbitration. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union, which has been without a contract since July, rejected that option.Fresh signs of acrimony arose on Friday, when the union put out a statement accusing the railway of manufacturing shortages of propane in order to force legislators to intervene.The government, for its part, is urging the two parties to resolve the issue themselves and has shown reluctance to issue back-to-work legislation. That’s despite pressure from provincial ministers and industry associations, who say the disruptions will hurt every sector of the economy and are calling on lawmakers to return earlier to force workers back on the job.In some ways, the strike is the first test for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau since his Liberal party’s hold on power was weakened in elections last month. As a minority government, Trudeau needs to rely on other parties to pass legislation. While Trudeau has

the support of the Conservatives to end the strike, the risk is that pushing too hard could alienate the New Democratic Party, whose pro-labour members he’ll need to get other bills passed.The stakes are high. Exports account for over 30% of Canada’s economic output, more than every other Group of Eight nation except Germany.Its rail networks play a key role by transporting consumer goods, as well as canola, wheat, potash and other natural resources, to the seaports and points south. Oil exporters have increasingly turned to rail because of pipeline bottlenecks in Alberta’s oil sands.Last year, more than C$92bn ($69.3bn) of exports were carried by rail in Canada, a fifth of total exports. CN Rail is one of its two main players and owns more than half of the nation’s tracks. (Goods are still flowing on the country’s other main network, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd).In dollar terms, the strike could easily cost the Canadian economy more than C$3bn in lost output by early December, according to TD Bank economists. That’s the conservative figure, they said. A lengthy halt in shipments would have

knock-on eff ects on corporate profits. Canadian crude prices have already reacted to the news, falling to their lowest in a week.The strike has almost halted shipments of crude oil at some rail terminals in Alberta at a time when pipelines are filled to capacity and trains are essential to maintaining exports of Canada’s most important commodity. The Tank Tiger, a terminal storage clearinghouse, received an inquiry to store about 30 rail tank cars for 30 days in the US Pacific Northwest, after the cars couldn’t deliver crude to a terminal due to the strike.Mining companies are also feeling the impact. If the strike continues, Hudbay Minerals Inc could see an inventory buildup of zinc-copper concentrate and lagging sales in the fourth quarter, according to Credit Suisse.Farmers in Ontario and Quebec, meanwhile, are being urged to limit drying of corn and soybeans as heating for residents and livestock is prioritised.“This disruption comes at a challenging time for the Canadian economy,” said Brian DePratto, an economist at TD. “More pain is hardly what the manufacturing or agriculture sectors need right now.”

Musk touts 146,000 Cybertruck orders two days after revealBloombergSan Francisco

Tesla Inc chief executive off icer Elon Musk said on Saturday the company has amassed 146,000 orders for its Cybertruck, less than 48 hours after the polarising vehicle was first shown amid shattered glass.The electric-car maker has a history of unveiling future products to throngs of excited customers, taking deposits, and then delivering years later. Two years ago, Tesla showed off a Semi truck and a next generation Roadster

sports car, but neither vehicle is in production yet. This spring, Musk unveiled the Model Y crossover; that vehicle is slated to begin production next summer.Tesla’s website allows customers to order the electric truck for a fully refundable $100, and says they can complete their configuration “as production nears in late 2021.” Musk said in a tweet that 42% had ordered the dual-motor option, which starts at $49,900, while 41% have ordered the $69,900 triple-motor option, production of which is expected to begin in late 2022. Just 17% ordered the

single-motor version, which begins at $39,900.The $100 deposit for the Cybertruck is far cheaper than the $1,000 that was required to reserve a Model 3 sedan.Tesla’s reservation lists have long been a source of intrigue for investors, analysts, journalists, fans and sceptics of the company, as it’s often used as a proxy for demand. But Tesla itself stopped giving reservation figures on its quarterly earnings calls, saying the metric wasn’t relevant.“Reservations are not relevant for us,” former chief financial off icer

Deepak Ahuja said in January, during the company’s 2018 fourth-quarter earnings call. “Now we do have a large reservations backlog still, which tells us that a lot of customers are still waiting for those cars. But I don’t think it’s appropriate to share the reservations number.”Tesla never released an order or reservation figure for the Model Y. The company had $665mn in customer deposits as of September 30, according to a regulatory filing.In a demonstration of the truck’s toughness, long-time Tesla lead designer Franz von Holzhausen

whacked the Cybertruck’s stainless steel door with a mallet, showing that it couldn’t be dented. But when he threw a metallic ball at the driver side front window, it shattered.‘Too Hard’The crowd gasped. “Oh my god,” said Musk. “Maybe that was a little too hard.”So von Holzhausen tried a second, softer throw — this time targeting the truck’s rear window — only to see that shatter as well.It wasn’t immediately clear who supplied the glass or if Tesla made what it called “Armor Glass” completely in-house. Tesla entered the glass

technology business back in 2016, and has an internal group known as Tesla Glass.Musk said his team threw the same steel ball at the window several times before the event and didn’t even scratch the glass. Late on Friday, he tweeted out a short video of von Holzhausen that has been viewed more than 5.2mn times.The angular, futuristic design and the shattering glass generated enormous publicity for Tesla and its truck, but shares tumbled 6.1% to $333.04 on Friday, the sharpest decline in almost two months.

Google workers protest ‘brute force intimidation’BloombergSan Francis

Google employees demon-strated outside the com-pany’s San Francisco offi ce

on Friday to protest the Internet gi-ant’s recent decision to put two staff members on leave.

The event is the latest sign of a growing rift between manage-ment and rank-and-fi le workers at Alphabet Inc’s Google, which was once praised for its open corporate culture. Protesting staff believe the company is trying to quell internal activism and quash dissension about Google’s work with the military and other potentially controversial cus-tomers.

Roughly 200 workers gathered about 11am local time Friday out-side a Google offi ce overlooking San Francisco bay.

“Over the past two years, many of my co-workers have asked the com-

pany to take meaningful action to curtail sexual harassment and sys-temic racism, improve the working conditions of temps, vendors and contractors, and divest from harm-ful tech,” said Zora Tung, a Google software engineer. “Instead of lis-tening to us, the company has cho-sen to silence us.”

The Google workers who pro-tested also said the company had unjustly put Laurence Berland and Rebecca Rivers on indefi nite ad-ministrative leave without warning. They demanded that Google bring the employees back to work imme-diately.

Earlier this month, Bloomb-erg News reported that Google had put two workers on leave, which a spokeswoman said was for alleg-edly violating company policies. In an e-mail, the Google protesters said neither Berland nor Rivers was given an explanation for their pun-ishment. Rivers was involved in in-ternal protests against US Customs

and Border Protection, which is cur-rently testing a Google cloud prod-uct. Berland was active in protests against YouTube for its handling of hate speech policies.

Google employees protest in San Francisco on November 22.

“It’s a brute force intimidation at-tempt to silence workers,” the em-ployees said in an e-mail.

Rivers said that Google’s offi cial reason for putting her on leave was to investigate her document access at the company to ensure “every-thing’s on the up and up.”

“However, many of the ques-tions during this interrogation focused on my involvement in the Customs and Border Protection petition and social media usage,” Rivers said. “I helped my co-work-ers learn about and act on Google’s collaboration with CBP. Many of my co-workers are immigrants and this directly affects their lives and communities.”

Berland said Google punished

him for his involvement in protests against YouTube and for demand-ing, with other colleagues, that Google not work with the CBP.

“Even though Rebecca and I are experiencing the full force of Goog-le’s retaliation, this is not really about me. It’s not about Rebecca. It’s about us, all of us, and the open cul-ture we built and treasure together,” Berland said. “If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone, and that culture is lost forever.”

Google employees protest outside Google offi ces in San Francisco on November 22.

A company spokeswoman said Google is investigating the access of confi dential documents and other information that made some em-ployees feel unsafe.

“We have clear guidelines about appropriate conduct at work, and we’ve had a number of concerns raised,” the spokeswoman said. “We always investigate such issues thoroughly.”

In the last 18 months or so, a di-vide has grown between Google’s leaders and outspoken staff . Em-ployees have protested leadership’s handling of sexual harassment complaints and launched internal campaigns against some Google projects, such as a censored search engine for China, a military con-tract and Google’s cloud deals with energy companies. These areas were seen as potential sources of revenue growth for Google.

More recently, some workers ac-cused managers of attempting to censor internal discussions and shut down meetings about labour rights.At least some of the tensions stem from new community guidelines Google introduced in August that were intended to curb incivility in the workplace.

Last week, Google scrapped its weekly all-hands staff meeting in favor of a monthly gathering that will focus on business and strategy topics.

Google employees participate in a walkout to protest how the tech giant handled sexual misconduct in Mountain View (file). “Over the past two years, many of my co-workers have asked the company to take meaningful action to curtail sexual harassment and systemic racism, improve the working conditions of temps, vendors and contractors, and divest from harmful tech,” said Zora Tung, a Google software engineer.

PayPal to acquire online coupon site Honey for $4bn

Airbnb queried by Congress over violationof local laws

BloombergNew York

PayPal Holdings Inc will acquire Honey Science

Corp for about $4bn, its largest-ever acquisi-

tion, adding a startup that amasses valuable

data on consumer buying habits and doles out

coupons for online bargains.

About 17mn people use Honey apps or web

browser extensions to find discounts at online

shopping sites. The startup was profitable

in 2018, PayPal said in a statement. Shares

of the payments giant were little changed in

extended trading.

Honey is valued at almost twice what PayPal

paid for its next-largest deal, iZettle, the Swed-

ish provider of small-business services it

purchased in 2018, and marks the first major

acquisition this year. Chief executive off icer

Dan Schulman has signalled that PayPal, with

more than $10bn in cash, is on the hunt for

more deals after a string of takeovers last year

that included Hyperwallet and Simility.

Honey, which was founded in 2012, will keep

its base in Los Angeles, and the founders will

continue to run the business. The company’s

services include a browser extension that

automatically applies coupons at e-commerce

sites. In a statement, PayPal said that Honey’s

capabilities will give its customers a better

shopping experience, and help merchants

drive sales, partly with more timely and per-

sonalised off ers.

BloombergNew York

US lawmakers are asking Airbnb Inc to provide information about hosts that list short-term rentals on the site who don’t com-ply with local laws and violate the company’s own policies.In a letter to Airbnb chief executive off icer Bri-an Chesky, six members of Congress said they are particularly interested in recent media reports that have highlighted the proliferation of limited liability Corps on the home-sharing platform. For example, the lawmakers cited an article in the New York Times that showed listings by one operation, out of compliance with company policy, were able to generate revenue of almost $21mn in three years.Deceptive and misleading listings have also led to customers being scammed by “hosts” who abuse Airbnb’s cancellation policies, according to the letter, which was signed by Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, Barbara Lee of California and Robin Kelly of Illinois, among others.

BUSINESSMonday, November 25, 2019

GULF TIMES

Oil drops from 2-month highs on trade talk concernswww.abhafoundation.org

OilOil prices fell on Friday, pulling back from two-month highs as concern over US-China trade talks overshadowed expectations of an extension to Opec+ production cuts. Brent crude futures eased to settle at $63.39 a barrel, having touched a high of $64.27 early in the session. WTI fell to settle at $57.77 a barrel, dropping from its session high of $58.74. After paring their gains, both benchmarks ended the week little changed.Uncertainty over whether the US and China will be able to reach a partial trade deal that would lift some pressure on the global economy kept a lid on prices. Chinese President Xi Jinping, in rare comments on the trade tensions with Washington, said Beijing wants to work out an interim or ‘phase one’ trade pact, but is not afraid to retaliate when necessary.Prices had rallied to their highest since late September on Thursday after Reuters reported that Opec and Russia are likely to extend existing production cuts by three more months to mid-2020 when they meet on December 5 & 6. The group will also emphasise the need for stricter deal compliance from the likes of Iraq and Nigeria. US energy firms last week reduced the number of oil rigs operating for a fifth week in a row. The rig count has now dropped 24% year-on-year as producers cut spending on new drilling. Drillers cut three oil rigs last week, bringing the total count down to 671. In the same week a year ago, there were 885 active rigs.

GasAsian spot prices for LNG were weighed down last week by a supply glut as more spot cargoes flooded the market, while demand growth was muted by signs of a mild winter in Northeast Asia. Prices for December delivery are estimated at about $5 to $5.20 per mmBtu, down about 20 to 40 cents per from the previous week and with European gas storage nearly full, cargoes may struggle to find a home.Singapore’s Pavilion Energy has taken the unusual step of cancelling the loading of a cargo from the US, but has agreed to pay for it, several industry sources said. A company spokeswoman said Pavilion evaluated scheduling and other commercial

matters and took the decision not to lift the cargo in coordination with the supplier.Several LNG plants off ered cargoes last week, adding to the already amply supplied market. Angola’s LNG project tendered a cargo for delivery in January to destinations as far as Indonesia, while Australia’s Ichthys and Papua New Guinea LNG plants extended a cargo each for December. Indonesia’s Tangguh plant, also off ered five cargoes for delivery over the first quarter of next year. Low spot prices attracted some demand from India, with Indian Oil Corp seeking a cargo for delivery on December 17.In the UK, British wholesale gas prices rose on Friday, as supplies from the

country’s LNG terminals fell, leaving the market undersupplied. In the US, natural gas futures fell slightly last week following the oil market and

continued demand concerns. Henry Hub spot prices dropped around 1% from the previous week to settle at $2.67 MMBtu.

This article was supplied by the

Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah

International Foundation for Energy

and Sustainable Development.

WEEKLY ENERGY MARKET REVIEW

Strong buying interests limit QSE decline; index still above 10,250 pointsBy Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Strong buying interests, especially within Islamic equities, yesterday helped

the Qatar Stock Exchange soft land in the negative turf.

Gulf institutions’ increased net buying and foreign funds’ weakened net selling pressure rather limited the decline in the 20-stock index, which settled a mere 0.13% lower at 10,253.64 points.

Both local and non-Qatari retail investors continued to be net buyers but with lesser in-tensity on the market, whose key benchmark is down 0.44% year-to-date.

Market capitalisation saw QR37mn or 0.07% decline to QR566.39bn mainly owing to microcap segments.

Realty, transport and con-sumer goods sectors witnessed higher than average selling pres-sure on the market, where do-mestic institutions turned net profi t takers.

Trade turnover and volumes were on the decline on the

bourse, where industrials and banking sectors together ac-counted for about 69% of the total volume.

The Total Return Index de-clined 0.13% to 18,867.38 points and All Share Index by 0.05% to 3,027.94 points, while Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) grew 0.12% to 2,311.28 points.

The telecom index declined 0.62%, industrials (0.2%), in-surance (0.18%) and banks and fi nancial services (0.09%);

whereas real estate, transport and consumer goods gained 0.49%, 0.46% and 0.29% re-spectively.

Major losers included Com-mercial Bank, Alijarah Holding, Qatari Investors Group, Aamal Company, Gulf International Services, Qatar Islamic Insur-ance, Qatar Insurance, Voda-fone Qatar and Ooredoo; even as QIIB, Medicare Group, Qatar General Insurance and Rein-surance, United Development

Company, Mazaya Qatar, Gulf Warehousing and Nakilat were among the gainers.

The Gulf institutions’ net buying increased notice-ably to QR3.21mn compared to QR1.31mn on November 21.

The Gulf individual investors were net buyers to the tune of QR1.03mn against net sellers of QR0.55mn last Thursday.

Non-Qatari institutions’ net selling weakened consider-ably to QR6.87mn compared to QR29.3mn the previous trading day.

However, domestic funds turned net sellers to the extent of QR5.85mn against net buyers of QR7.84mn on November 21.

Local retail investors’ net buying weakened signifi cant-ly to QR5.05mn compared to QR11.27mn last Thursday.

Non-Qatari individuals’ net buying weakened noticeably to QR3.21mn against QR9.44mn the previous trading day.

Total trade volume fell 19% to 38.68mn shares, value by 44% to QR128.88mn and transactions by 17% to 4,526.

The insurance sector’s trade volume plummeted 60% to

1.07mn equities, value by 54% to QR3mn and deals by 31% to 129.

There was 59% plunge in the consumer goods sector’s trade volume to 1.19mn stocks, 68% in value to QR9.5mn and 58% in transactions to 296.

The banks and fi nancial serv-ices sector’s trade volume tanked 38% to 11.8mn shares, value by 53% to QR67.98mn and deals by 18% to 2,101.

The transport sector saw 20% shrinkage in trade volume to 1.46mn equities and 9% in value to QR5.65mn but on 29% growth in transactions to 183.

The real estate sector’s trade volume was down 3% to 5.1mn stocks, value by 21% to QR6.42mn and deals by 6% to 288.

However, the market wit-nessed 32% surge in the telecom sector’s trade volume to 3.36mn shares but on 25% contraction in value to QR7.76mn and 38% in transactions to 334.

The industrials’ sector’s trade volume grew 7% to 14.7mn equi-ties, value by 12% to QR28.57mn and deals by 14% to 1,195.

In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and sovereign bonds.

Realty, transport and consumer goods sectors witnessed higher than average selling pressure on the market yesterday, where domestic institutions turned net profit takers.

Sony reports its strongest 2nd quarter operating income till date at $2.59bn

Sony Corporation reported its strongest second quarter operating income till date with a 16% increase against the same period last year, mainly owing to robust image sensor sales. The recent second quarter (Q2) results also raised Sony’s full-year earnings outlook.

At the end of September 30, 2019, the recorded operating income for Q2 2019 was $2.59bn. The consolidated operating income forecast for FY19 is expected to increase by $278mn to $7.78bn from an earlier estimate of $7.5bn.Meanwhile, the sales and operating revenue for Q2 2019 recorded a slight decline of 3%, amounting to $19.76bn against $20.32bn from the same period last year.The “significant” increase was mostly driven by growth in operating income in the imaging and sensing solutions segment, which saw 59% year-on-year increase to

$711mn, while it reported a 22% rise year-on-year in sales to $2.89bn.With the growth of multi-camera set-ups, Sony is providing smartphone manufacturers with imaging sensors for their products that primarily contributed to an increase in unit sales and improvement in product mix, resulting in better second quarter results, a company spokesman said.“In the Middle East and Africa region, we are confidently moving into the year end peak sales season with a solid array of industry leading products in the digital imaging, television and audio products categories,” according to Takakiyo Fujita, managing director, Sony Middle East and Africa.The introduction of powerful full frame mirror less cameras ‘ 9II’ and ‘ 7RIV’ as well as the compact ‘RX100 VII’ has helped Sony retain its leadership in the high-end of the camera market.‘BRAVIA 8K’ LED TVs and new range of ‘OLED’ TVs lead new product introductions in the very competitive televisions market, he said, adding the wireless WF-1000XM3 noise cancelling earbuds continues to show very strong demand.“With these product off erings, I am certain we fill finish the year on a very strong note,” he said.The Electronics Products and Solutions segment also recorded an increase of 151% year-on-year to $385.5mn.

Fujita: Strong outlook.

Doha Bank launches project Phoenix to build strong relationships across cross-functional groups

Doha Bank has launched project

Phoenix, an initiative designed to

build strong relationships across

cross-functional groups at the

heart of the banks’ transformation

strategy.

The first transformation meet-

ing — which was held at Banana

Island on November 16, 2019 in col-

laboration with Ernst and Young

(E&Y) and presided over by Doha

Bank Group chief executive Dr R

Seetharaman — brought together

Doha Bank senior off icials and in-

cluded a series of workshops and

activations aimed at encouraging

cross-functional engagement and

team building.

Focused on nurturing a culture of

change to help its employees em-

brace and lead the organisational

transformation that Doha Bank has

undertaken, the workshop off ered

deep insights into new business

strategies set to revolutionise the

bank’s processes and to realign in

an agile structure the prioritisation

of initiatives.

“With a radical transformation un-

derway in the organisation, it has

become imperative for our senior

employees to emerge as champi-

ons of change and lead the way in

re-engineering the processes and

operations,” Seetharaman said.

The experts from E&Y discussed

the bank-wide transformation

initiatives and highlighted the

importance of improving cus-

tomer satisfaction by integrating

and harmonising all customer

touch points for an Omni-channel

experience. The programme shed

light on strategies outlined to

drive digitisation and automation

across internal and customer-

facing processes. In addition,

it included strategic processes

focused on risk and capital

management to protect Doha

Bank customers, shareholders

and the bank’s reputation, as well

as on the importance of reducing

the cost to improve margin and

enhancing revenue through

diversified sources of income and

resource allocations and budgets

to ensure sustainable growth.

Seetharaman, along with employees, at the inaugural transformation meeting under Phoenix project.

Trade summit seeks to transform Qatar into logistics, supply chain hubThe first edition of the Qatar Trade Summit,

which opens in Doha today aims to transform

Qatar into a regional logistics and supply chain

hub, according the event’s organisers.

Narendra Kumar, the head of the summit’s

steering committee, said the three-day event

is being held at the InterContinental Doha The

City and gathers local and international busi-

ness leaders who are expected to interact with

global thought leaders, industry stakeholders

and experts from the fields of sea ports, air

cargo, supply chain, and logistics.

The summit will hold discussions about the ‘Im-

pact of ports and shipping in regional economic

progress’, ‘air cargo sector and its influence on

bridging regional markets’, ‘supply chain logis-

tics and trends and future of logistics’.

It will also feature a workshop focusing on ‘Made

in Qatar’, which will explore the potential of

bringing business to the region, and another one

titled ‘Global Strategic Partnerships Workshop’.

In a statement, the organisers said the summit

is hosting “some of the world’s most reputed

names” from the air cargo, logistics and supply

chain domains. Also, prominent industry lead-

ers will be delivering keynote speeches during

the three-day event.

They include HE Qatar Airways Group chief

executive Akbar al-Baker, Kuwait Ports Authority

director general and chairman of Federation of

Arab Ports & the Arab Transport Sector Sheikh

Yousef Abdullah al-Nasser al-Sabah, Mwani Qatar

CEO Abdulla al-Khanji, Qatar Financial Centre

CEO & board member Yousuf al-Jaida,

Qatar Free Zones Authority CEO Lim Meng

Hui, Lloyd’s List Containers editor James

Baker, Global head IATA Cargo Glyn Hughes,

Turkish Cargo chief cargo off icer Turhan Özen,

DHL Global Forwarding, Middle East & Africa

CEO Amadou Diallo, and Qatar Airways chief

cargo off icer Guillaume Halleux. “Despite the

challenges facing the global container shipping

sector, the Middle East is emerging as one of the

bright spots. Transported volumes are increasing

and global carriers are adding more services to

the region as demand rises.

“The region’s strategic location on the midway

point of China’s ambitious Belt and Road project

has led to increased interest in container

terminal developments. In the first nine months

of this year alone, Qatari ports saw volumes rise

by 2% to over 1mn teu,” Baker said.

Bertrand Maltaverne, solutions consultant,

Ivaula Inc, Austria, said: “The logistics market

in Qatar is at a growth stage and a steady one

at that for the last five to 10 years, with the new

expansion plans in the country, the upcoming

major 2022 FIFA World Cup event, and the am-

bitious plans of the Qatari leadership to grow

the country into a new regional logistical hub,

and a major global LNG supplier.”

Diallo added: “I am personally convinced that

Qatar will become a global technology and life

sciences and healthcare logistics hub for time

and temperature sensitive goods, thanks to its

airports and logistics infrastructure. Qatar will

become a global platform for connecting people

and improving lives.”

Narendra Kumar, who heads the summit’s Steering Committee; and Mahmoud al-Mohmmedi, Qatar Trade Summit media officer; during the press conference to announce the three-day event, which will run until November 27 in Doha.PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam