12
US crude headed for 1% weekly rise, Brent 0.4%; Middle East producers raise prices to Asian buyers; Venezuela’s debt troubles concern oil investors Reuters New York O il prices rose yesterday, nearing their highest levels in more than two years, supported by rising global demand and physical prices and continuing expectations that Opec and other producing countries will extend a deal to cut output. Global benchmark Brent futures traded up 18¢ at $60.79 a barrel at 11:17am EDT (1417 GMT), after hitting a session high of $61.15. Brent has risen around 38% since its low in 2017 reached in June. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded at $54.57 a barrel, up 3¢. WTI is around 30% above its 2017 low hit in June. Brent was on track for a weekly rise of 0.4% and US crude was headed for a 1% weekly rise. “The market continues to find sup- port from expectations that we’re going to see the cut extended and from robust demand,” said Gene McGillian, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) meets at the end of November to discuss further action after it agreed nearly a year ago with Russia and other producers to hold back 1.8mn barrels per day (bpd) of oil supply. Russia said on Thursday the deal, due to expire in March, could be extended but a decision was not imminent. China’s roughly 9mn bpd of imports have surpassed those of the United States to top the world’s crude importer list. “There’s an idea that the global econ- omy is looking pretty good,” McGillian said, pointing to rising demand in other regions. “China’s oil demand growth appears to be accelerating,” investment bank Jeffer- ies said. Physical oil prices are also rising. Qatar Petroleum, Saudi Aramco and the UAE’s Adnoc have all raised their crude prices for Asian buyers, with Aramco’s December premium over the average of the Oman and Dubai benchmarks now at the highest in three years. Meanwhile, US energy companies cut eight oil rigs this week, the biggest reduc- tion since May 2016, extending a drill- ing decline that started over the summer when prices slipped below $50 a barrel. The oil rig count fell to 729 in the week to November 3, the lowest level since May, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes ener- gy services firm said in its closely followed report yesterday. The rig count, an early indicator of fu- ture output, is still much higher than a year ago when only 450 rigs were active after energy companies boosted spending plans for 2017 in the second half of last year as crude started recovering from a two-year price crash. The increase in drilling lasted 14 months before stalling in August, Sep- tember and October after some producers started trimming spending plans when prices turned softer over the summer. US oil production dipped to 9.2mn barrels per day (bpd) in August, accord- ing to federal energy data released this week. Overall, however, exploration and pro- duction (E&P) companies expect to in- crease the amount of money they plan to spend on US drilling and completions in 2017 by about 53% over 2016, according to US financial services firm Cowen & Co. That was up from 50% in the firm’s prior capital expenditure tracking report last week. That expected 2017 spending increase followed an estimated 48% decline in 2016 and a 34% decline in 2015, Cowen said. Cowen, which has its own US rig count, said it expects a gradual decline in rigs in the fourth quarter of 2017 and in 2018. There were 898 oil and natural gas rigs active on November 3.The average number of rigs in service so far in 2017 was 868. That compares with 509 in 2016 and 978 in 2015. Most rigs produce both oil and gas. Traders also eyed risks from ongoing financial troubles of Opec-members Ven- ezuela and its state oil company PDVSA. The government and PDVSA owe some $1.6bn in debt service and delayed inter- est payments by the end of the year, plus another $9bn in bond servicing in 2018. The next hard payment deadline for PDVSA is an $81mn bond payment that was due on October 12 but on which the company delayed payment under a 30- day grace period. Failing to pay that on time would trig- ger a default, investors say. Saturday, November 4, 2017 Safar 15, 1439 AH BUSINESS GULF TIMES iPhone X hits Asia stores PROFITS SOAR | Page 2 S’pore police to examine Goldman role 1MDB DEALS | Page 4 US job growth speeds up, unemployment rate falls, wages flat BELOW ECONOMISTS’ EXPECTATIONS: Page 12 Total sees challenges to Saudi reform drive Reuters London Saudi Arabia’s push for reforms could face a backlash from within and there is no guaran- tee the drive by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will succeed, one of the biggest oil investors in the Middle East, France’s Total, said on Thursday. “You don’t change into a secular regime just like that,” Total chief executive Patrick Pouyanne told an event in London. While most of Saudi Arabia’s young population, roughly 70% of the total, support the reforms, the older generation might be reluctant to accept such changes, he said. “I am supportive of this reformist spirit, even if it is difficult to be optimistic or pessimistic at that stage. Major changes are not always easy to implement and can take time,” Pouyanne told Reuters after his initial remarks. At Thursday’s event, Pouyanne was asked if Prince Mohammed was a reformist like former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, who was stripped of power in 1991 in a coup led by communist party conservatives and left jobless the same year by the collapse of the Soviet Union. “Do you remember what happened to (Mikhail) Gor- bachev?” Pouyanne responded. “As you remember chaos came before stabilisation happened.” Total is one of the most active and biggest investors in the Middle East. It has a major refining site in Saudi Arabia, large concessions with the UAE and Qatar and this year it signed a deal to de- velop part of Iran’s South Pars, the world’s largest gas field. “Total is perceived in most of those countries as represent- ing France. We benefit, even if we are a commercial company, from this position of France. Total has a nationality and that nationality is a strength in the oil and gas business.” Oil near two-year high on growing global demand A pumping jack, also known as a ‘nodding donkey,’ stands in an oilfield operated by Bashneft in the village of Otrada, 150kms from Ufa, Russia. The Opec output cut deal, due to expire in March, could be extended, but a decision was not imminent, Russia says. Exxon is spending $1bn a year to research green energy Bloomberg London O ne of the world’s biggest oil companies is pumping more than $1bn a year into alternative forms of energy from algae engineered to bloom into biofuels and cells that turn emissions into electricity. The funds from Exxon Mobil Corp are for more than a hundred of research projects on environmentally-friendly technologies in five to 10 key areas, ac- cording to vice-president of Research and Development Vijay Swarup. While any commercial breakthrough is at least a decade away, Exxon’s support for clean energy suggests the world’s most valuable publicly-traded oil com- pany is looking toward the possibility of a future where fossil fuels are less dominant. “These areas are massively challeng- ing, and if we can solve those, they will have huge impacts on our business,” said Swarup in a phone interview. “We bring more than money. We bring the science, the commitment to research.” While Exxon has discussed some of its work before and runs advertise- ments about its work in algae, the re- marks from Swarup are the first indica- tion of the breadth of the oil company’s interests in alternative energies. Exxon joins a growing list of oil majors hedging against the wider adoption of renewables, which could displace some 8mn barrels of crude demand a day, according to Bloomb- erg New Energy Finance. Some com- panies, like France’s Total, have made acquisitions to enter the business. Others, like Royal Dutch Shell, are using experiences from running off- shore rigs to develop wind farms in the North Sea. Based in Irving, Texas, Exxon said its approach is different because its fo- cusing on science, Swarup said. It has joined with about 80 universities and is collaborating with smaller companies on research. Projects it’s working on include: Algae biofuels: Exxon is planning to harvest algae in ponds or oceans around the world and process it into a biofuel for regional distribution. Swarup ex- pects that it will first be blended with diesel and jet fuel, but the goal is to eventually sell a 100% algae-derived fuel. Biodiesel made from agricultural waste: The company is working with Renewable Energy Group to use mi- crobes to convert inedible crop residue like corn husks into biofuels. The two companies began their collaboration in 2016 and recently extended their joint research programme. Carbonate fuel cells: Most fuel cells generate electricity by reacting chemi- cally with natural gas or hydrogen. These ones use carbon dioxide. Exxon and FuelCell Energy are researching how the devices can be used in carbon capture and storage and to generate electricity at the same time. It’s build- ing a pilot plant within a few months and is working on the engineering of the facility now. Process intensification: Exxon is working with Georgia Institute of Technology to develop a more efficient way of refining crude oil into plastic. It involves using a membrane and osmo- sis rather than heat. Exxon is targeting carbon dioxide emission reductions by as much as half with the process. “We are still 10 plus years away” for both the algae biofuels and carbon- ate fuel cells to be deployed at scale, according to Swarup, who said the company’s been focusing research on algae for eight years. Swarup’s biggest priority is find- ing and developing projects that can be scaled to Exxon’s global reach. The company operates on six continents and had revenues of $198bn last year, bigger than the combined economies of Qatar and Kuwait, two members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. “The common denominator when we’re looking at from a research standpoint is that we understand our role as a Corp and that is scalable so- lutions,” Swarup said. “Oil and gas companies tend to con- sider other elements of an investment beyond just the short-term revenue potential,” said Rick Wheatley, execu- tive vice-president of new growth at Xynteo, a consultancy that advises Shell, Statoil and Eni on sustainability and long-term planning. Washington office opens as Iran sanctions risks loom Reuters London Total has opened an office in Washington in a bid to strengthen relations with the US administration as the French oil and gas company prepares to invest billions in Iran. Chief executive officer Patrick Pouyanne confirmed Total opened a government relations office, telling Reuters “we should have done a long time ago.” In July, Total became the first Western energy firm to sign a deal with Iran since the easing of international sanctions in 2015, agreeing to develop Phase 11 of the South Pars offshore gas field with a total investment of $5bn. But the future of the project was thrown into doubt after President Donald Trump last month refused to certify Iran was complying with an interna- tional deal over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, leaving Congress to decide by mid-December whether to reimpose those US sanctions on Iran that had been lifted. For now, Total was continu- ing plans to develop the first phase of South Pars, estimated to cost $1bn, issuing tenders for services, Pouyanne told an event at Chatham House in London on Thursday. Total would comply with any sanctions preventing it from operating in Iran, Pouyanne said, adding that Tehran “knows that if we can not go ahead it is because of a deci- sion by the US.” Total’s Washington office, staffed by five people, would help coordinate relations with the US Treasury and State Department to make sure the French firm remains in compli- ance with any changes to US sanctions, a Total source said. The entrance to ExxonMobil headquarters in Irving, Texas. While any commercial breakthrough is at least a decade away, Exxon’s support for clean energy suggests the world’s most valuable publicly-traded oil company is looking towards the possibility of a future where fossil fuels are less dominant.

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Page 1: up, unemployment BUSINESS

US crude headed for 1% weekly rise, Brent 0.4%; Middle East producers raise prices to Asian buyers; Venezuela’s debt troubles concern oil investors

ReutersNew York

Oil prices rose yesterday, nearing their highest levels in more than two years, supported by rising

global demand and physical prices and continuing expectations that Opec and other producing countries will extend a deal to cut output.

Global benchmark Brent futures traded up 18¢ at $60.79 a barrel at 11:17am EDT (1417 GMT), after hitting a session high of $61.15.

Brent has risen around 38% since its low in 2017 reached in June.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded at $54.57 a barrel, up 3¢.

WTI is around 30% above its 2017 low hit in June.

Brent was on track for a weekly rise of 0.4% and US crude was headed for a 1% weekly rise.

“The market continues to fi nd sup-port from expectations that we’re going to see the cut extended and from robust demand,” said Gene McGillian, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) meets at the end of November to discuss further action after it agreed nearly a year ago with Russia and other producers to hold back 1.8mn barrels per day (bpd) of oil supply.

Russia said on Thursday the deal, due to expire in March, could be extended but a decision was not imminent.

China’s roughly 9mn bpd of imports have surpassed those of the United States to top the world’s crude importer list.

“There’s an idea that the global econ-omy is looking pretty good,” McGillian said, pointing to rising demand in other regions.

“China’s oil demand growth appears to be accelerating,” investment bank Jeff er-ies said.

Physical oil prices are also rising.Qatar Petroleum, Saudi Aramco and the

UAE’s Adnoc have all raised their crude prices for Asian buyers, with Aramco’s

December premium over the average of the Oman and Dubai benchmarks now at the highest in three years.

Meanwhile, US energy companies cut eight oil rigs this week, the biggest reduc-tion since May 2016, extending a drill-ing decline that started over the summer when prices slipped below $50 a barrel.

The oil rig count fell to 729 in the week to November 3, the lowest level since May, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes ener-gy services fi rm said in its closely followed report yesterday.

The rig count, an early indicator of fu-ture output, is still much higher than a year ago when only 450 rigs were active after energy companies boosted spending plans for 2017 in the second half of last year as crude started recovering from a two-year price crash.

The increase in drilling lasted 14 months before stalling in August, Sep-

tember and October after some producers started trimming spending plans when prices turned softer over the summer.

US oil production dipped to 9.2mn barrels per day (bpd) in August, accord-ing to federal energy data released this week.

Overall, however, exploration and pro-duction (E&P) companies expect to in-crease the amount of money they plan to spend on US drilling and completions in 2017 by about 53% over 2016, according to US fi nancial services fi rm Cowen & Co.

That was up from 50% in the fi rm’s prior capital expenditure tracking report last week.

That expected 2017 spending increase followed an estimated 48% decline in 2016 and a 34% decline in 2015, Cowen said.

Cowen, which has its own US rig count, said it expects a gradual decline in rigs in

the fourth quarter of 2017 and in 2018.There were 898 oil and natural gas

rigs active on November 3.The average number of rigs in service so far in 2017 was 868.

That compares with 509 in 2016 and 978 in 2015.

Most rigs produce both oil and gas.Traders also eyed risks from ongoing

fi nancial troubles of Opec-members Ven-ezuela and its state oil company PDVSA.

The government and PDVSA owe some $1.6bn in debt service and delayed inter-est payments by the end of the year, plus another $9bn in bond servicing in 2018.

The next hard payment deadline for PDVSA is an $81mn bond payment that was due on October 12 but on which the company delayed payment under a 30-day grace period.

Failing to pay that on time would trig-ger a default, investors say.

Saturday, November 4, 2017Safar 15, 1439 AH

BUSINESSGULF TIMES

iPhone X hits Asia stores

PROFITS SOAR | Page 2

S’pore police to examine Goldman role

1MDB DEALS | Page 4

US job growth speeds up, unemployment rate falls, wages fl at

BELOW ECONOMISTS’ EXPECTATIONS: Page 12

Total sees challenges to Saudi reform driveReutersLondon

Saudi Arabia’s push for reforms

could face a backlash from

within and there is no guaran-

tee the drive by Crown Prince

Mohammed bin Salman will

succeed, one of the biggest

oil investors in the Middle

East, France’s Total, said on

Thursday.

“You don’t change into a

secular regime just like that,”

Total chief executive Patrick

Pouyanne told an event in

London.

While most of Saudi Arabia’s

young population, roughly

70% of the total, support the

reforms, the older generation

might be reluctant to accept

such changes, he said.

“I am supportive of this

reformist spirit, even if it is

diff icult to be optimistic or

pessimistic at that stage. Major

changes are not always easy to

implement and can take time,”

Pouyanne told Reuters after his

initial remarks.

At Thursday’s event,

Pouyanne was asked if Prince

Mohammed was a reformist

like former Soviet president

Mikhail Gorbachev, who was

stripped of power in 1991 in a

coup led by communist party

conservatives and left jobless

the same year by the collapse

of the Soviet Union.

“Do you remember what

happened to (Mikhail) Gor-

bachev?” Pouyanne responded.

“As you remember chaos came

before stabilisation happened.”

Total is one of the most

active and biggest investors in

the Middle East.

It has a major refining site in

Saudi Arabia, large concessions

with the UAE and Qatar and

this year it signed a deal to de-

velop part of Iran’s South Pars,

the world’s largest gas field.

“Total is perceived in most of

those countries as represent-

ing France. We benefit, even if

we are a commercial company,

from this position of France.

Total has a nationality and that

nationality is a strength in the

oil and gas business.”

Oil near two-year high on growing global demand

A pumping jack, also known as a ‘nodding donkey,’ stands in an oilfield operated by Bashneft in the village of Otrada, 150kms from Ufa, Russia. The Opec output cut deal, due to expire in March, could be extended, but a decision was not imminent, Russia says.

Exxon is spending $1bn a year to research green energyBloombergLondon

One of the world’s biggest oil companies is pumping more than $1bn a year into alternative

forms of energy from algae engineered to bloom into biofuels and cells that turn emissions into electricity.

The funds from Exxon Mobil Corp are for more than a hundred of research projects on environmentally-friendly technologies in fi ve to 10 key areas, ac-cording to vice-president of Research and Development Vijay Swarup. While any commercial breakthrough is at least a decade away, Exxon’s support for clean energy suggests the world’s most valuable publicly-traded oil com-pany is looking toward the possibility of a future where fossil fuels are less dominant.

“These areas are massively challeng-ing, and if we can solve those, they will have huge impacts on our business,” said Swarup in a phone interview. “We bring more than money. We bring the science, the commitment to research.”

While Exxon has discussed some of its work before and runs advertise-ments about its work in algae, the re-marks from Swarup are the fi rst indica-

tion of the breadth of the oil company’s interests in alternative energies.

Exxon joins a growing list of oil majors hedging against the wider adoption of renewables, which could displace some 8mn barrels of crude

demand a day, according to Bloomb-erg New Energy Finance. Some com-panies, like France’s Total, have made acquisitions to enter the business. Others, like Royal Dutch Shell, are using experiences from running off-

shore rigs to develop wind farms in the North Sea.

Based in Irving, Texas, Exxon said its approach is diff erent because its fo-cusing on science, Swarup said. It has joined with about 80 universities and is

collaborating with smaller companies on research.

Projects it’s working on include:Algae biofuels: Exxon is planning to

harvest algae in ponds or oceans around the world and process it into a biofuel for regional distribution. Swarup ex-pects that it will fi rst be blended with diesel and jet fuel, but the goal is to eventually sell a 100% algae-derived fuel.

Biodiesel made from agricultural waste: The company is working with Renewable Energy Group to use mi-crobes to convert inedible crop residue like corn husks into biofuels. The two companies began their collaboration in 2016 and recently extended their joint research programme.

Carbonate fuel cells: Most fuel cells generate electricity by reacting chemi-cally with natural gas or hydrogen. These ones use carbon dioxide. Exxon and FuelCell Energy are researching how the devices can be used in carbon capture and storage and to generate electricity at the same time. It’s build-ing a pilot plant within a few months and is working on the engineering of the facility now.

Process intensifi cation: Exxon is working with Georgia Institute of Technology to develop a more effi cient

way of refi ning crude oil into plastic. It involves using a membrane and osmo-sis rather than heat. Exxon is targeting carbon dioxide emission reductions by as much as half with the process.

“We are still 10 plus years away” for both the algae biofuels and carbon-ate fuel cells to be deployed at scale, according to Swarup, who said the company’s been focusing research on algae for eight years.

Swarup’s biggest priority is fi nd-ing and developing projects that can be scaled to Exxon’s global reach. The company operates on six continents and had revenues of $198bn last year, bigger than the combined economies of Qatar and Kuwait, two members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

“The common denominator when we’re looking at from a research standpoint is that we understand our role as a Corp and that is scalable so-lutions,” Swarup said.

“Oil and gas companies tend to con-sider other elements of an investment beyond just the short-term revenue potential,” said Rick Wheatley, execu-tive vice-president of new growth at Xynteo, a consultancy that advises Shell, Statoil and Eni on sustainability and long-term planning.

Washington office opens as Iran sanctions risks loom

ReutersLondon

Total has opened an off ice

in Washington in a bid to

strengthen relations with

the US administration as the

French oil and gas company

prepares to invest billions in

Iran.

Chief executive off icer

Patrick Pouyanne confirmed

Total opened a government

relations off ice, telling Reuters

“we should have done a long

time ago.”

In July, Total became the first

Western energy firm to sign a

deal with Iran since the easing

of international sanctions in

2015, agreeing to develop

Phase 11 of the South Pars

off shore gas field with a total

investment of $5bn.

But the future of the project

was thrown into doubt after

President Donald Trump last

month refused to certify Iran

was complying with an interna-

tional deal over Iran’s nuclear

ambitions, leaving Congress

to decide by mid-December

whether to reimpose those US

sanctions on Iran that had been

lifted.

For now, Total was continu-

ing plans to develop the first

phase of South Pars, estimated

to cost $1bn, issuing tenders

for services, Pouyanne told

an event at Chatham House in

London on Thursday.

Total would comply with any

sanctions preventing it from

operating in Iran, Pouyanne

said, adding that Tehran

“knows that if we can not go

ahead it is because of a deci-

sion by the US.”

Total’s Washington off ice,

staff ed by five people, would

help coordinate relations with

the US Treasury and State

Department to make sure the

French firm remains in compli-

ance with any changes to US

sanctions, a Total source said.

The entrance to ExxonMobil headquarters in Irving, Texas. While any commercial breakthrough is at least a decade away, Exxon’s support for clean energy suggests the world’s most valuable publicly-traded oil company is looking towards the possibility of a future where fossil fuels are less dominant.

Page 2: up, unemployment BUSINESS

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Saturday, November 4, 20172

Apple iPhone X hits Asia markets as profi ts soarAFPHong Kong

Apple profi ts soared by a fi fth as its fl agship iPhone X hit stores in Asia yesterday, with the com-

pany predicting bumper sales despite its eye-watering price tag.

Net profi t rose 19% from a year ago to $10.7bn in the fi scal fourth quarter to September 30, Apple said.

Revenues were up 12% to $52.6bn.Release of the earnings fi gures

pushed Apple shares up more than 3% to $173.20 and came as iPhone X models began hitting the market in some time zones.

The fl agship handset features facial recognition, cordless charging and an edge-to-edge screen made of organic light-emitting diodes used in high-end televisions.

It marks the 10th anniversary of the fi rst iPhone release and hits about 50 markets around the world yesterday.

In Hong Kong, buyers who had pre-ordered the phone online queued to pick up their new purchases, saying they were willing to pay for what they saw as a landmark model.

“It’s the 10th anniversary phone – anyway, other phones like the Samsung are not much less,” said banker Tony Yeung, 35, as he queued outside the Ap-ple store in Hong Kong’s Festival Walk mall.

“It’s convenient. You can unlock the phone just by holding it up to your face in bed after you wake up,” Yeung added.

He said he had bought two of the 64 GB version, costing HK$8,588 ($1,100), one for himself and one for his wife.

The 256 GB model costs HK$9,888.Student Keith Li said all his friends

were changing to the new phone and had set aside money for it.

Li, 22, had traded in his old phone to help him meet the cost.

Inside the Hong Kong store, those still considering whether to buy were trying out facial recognition after con-cerns it may compromise the security of the phone.

Nam So, 36, said he was happy to use it, preferring it to touch ID, which opens the phone at the touch of a fi nger.

“If your thumb is sweaty then it won’t unlock.

Face ID would solve this problem,” he told AFP.

Around 300 customers waited over-night outside Singapore’s Apple store, the fi rst shop in Southeast Asia to sell the new model.

Supakorn Rieksiri and Kittiwat Wang, both 22, said they had fl own in from Bangkok on Thursday to pick up pre-orders of two phones each.

“With all the diff erent features like facial recognition and the bigger screen, it’s all quite worth it,” said Rieksiri, add-ing that the second handset was a gift for his mother.

Apple is setting an ambitious goal for itself to reinvent the smartphone as

it strives to fend off fi erce competition from rivals, especially in China.

The iPhone is its main profi t driver, accounting for more than half its rev-enues.

Apple closed out its fi scal year post-ing a full-year profi t of $48.35bn, up 5.8%, on revenues of $229bn, a rise of 6.3% from the previous year.

In the latest quarter the fi rm was able to reverse its fortunes in China, boost-

ing overall sales by 12% in the “Greater China” region. Sales were up in other regions except for Japan, which saw an 11% revenue drop.

Smartphone sales climbed by about a million units to 46.7mn in the three months winding up the California company’s fi scal year, according to the earnings report.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook called it a “very strong fi nish” to 2017.

As China faces winter gas crunch, LNG prices soarReutersSingapore/Beijing

China is hoovering up liquefied natural

gas (LNG) cargoes worldwide, pushing

spot prices for the fuel above those for

oil-indexed cargoes, as energy providers

scramble to avoid a looming winter sup-

ply crunch.

China has moved millions of house-

holds from burning dirty coal to natural

gas this year, pushing up import demand

amid an already tightening overall Asian

market. Most Asian LNG supplies are

delivered under long-term contracts with

prices linked to crude oil.

But with the upcoming winter heating

season, Chinese utilities have turned to

the spot market in desperation to cover

themselves in order to meet surging

demand, chartering tankers from as far

away as Norway.

“We expect (China’s national oil and

gas majors) CNOOC, PetroChina, and

Sinopec to buy 30% more (LNG) on the

spot market in the coming three months

compared with last year, to help boost

supplies,” said Jiang Jin, gas analyst at

JLC Energy.

“LNG terminals are running at full

capacity,” she added.

A similar short-term supply crunch late

last year boosted spot Asian LNG prices

by more than 80 in the last four months

of the year, and pushed China’s December

2016 imports to a record 3.7mn tonnes,

nearly double the 2016 average of just

2mn tonnes a month.

With millions more households hav-

ing moved to gas since then, last year’s

record is expected to be smashed this

year. “The Chinese are in panic mode.

They clearly underestimated the push

in demand from their gasification pro-

gramme. Now they are soaking up LNG

spot cargoes where they can.

And suppliers are happy to deliver, at

a premium,” said a trader with a major

commodity merchant.

Asian spot LNG prices have soared by

more than two-thirds since May to $9 per

million British thermal units (mmBtu),

above oil-linked prices of around $8 per

mmBtu.

“I’m fairly certain China will break a

new import record very soon and that

spot prices will break through $10,” the

trader said, declining to be named as he is

not allowed to talk about publicly pricing.

Unlike coal or oil, where China is the

world’s biggest importer, the country

is only the number three buyer of LNG

behind South Korea and Japan.

But its gasification programme is set to

change that.

“Beijing reiterated its commitment to

growing the share of natural gas in the

domestic energy mix in the recently held

9th National Party Congress as part of a

broader move to tackle air pollution,” BMI

Research said yesterday.

The scale of China’s soaring gas de-

mand can be seen in the major industrial

province of Hebei.

“Hebei province alone needs an extra

2bn cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas for

heating because of mandatory measures

to switch industrial and residential boilers

to use natural gas,” JLC’s Jiang said, refer-

ring to winter demand.

That’s the equivalent of 870,000

tonnes of extra LNG, equal to almost a

quarter of the country’s total demand.

The first customer shows his new iPhone X after buying it at an Apple store in Beijing yesterday. The company’s net profit rose 19% from a year ago to $10.7bn in thefiscal fourth quarter to September 30, it said.

Tax quibble stalls India solar cargoes, delays projects

BloombergNew Delhi

Several solar projects in India are facing delays and inflated costs as cus-

toms officials have blocked more than 900 containers of panel shipments for more than a month by demanding higher import duties.

Offi cials clearing import shipments at the Port of Chen-nai in South India are classifying solar panels as motors, which attract 7.5% import duty as op-posed to zero on solar modules, said Sunil Jain, chief executive offi cer of Hero Future Ener-gies Ltd, a company backed by International Finance Corp. A 30-megawatt shipment of Hero Future was cleared after paying higher duties, he said.

“These additional costs aren’t anticipated when we bid for projects,” Jain said.

The spat risks imperilling Prime Minister Narendra Mo-di’s goal of installing 100 giga-watts of solar energy by 2022. To meet that target, developers have relied on low-cost cells and modules from China, ena-bling tariffs in India to fall to among the lowest in the world. India is China’s second-biggest market for solar equipment with imports worth $3.2bn for the year ended March 31, ac-cording to Bloomberg New En-ergy Finance research.

Foreign investors remain bullish on India’s solar market but they need to take notice of these events and act to mini-mise resulting losses, said Allen Tom Abraham, a New Delhi-based analyst at BNEF.

“The dispute about improper classification of modules would impact project construction in the next two quarters,” he said.

The industry has the option to approach a tribunal after an investigation is complete and an order is passed, a customs official said, asking to not be identified. The tax department contends that the shipment will attract higher tariff as it contains fitments apart from panels that can power other appliances.

New York-listed Azure Pow-er Global Ltd, whose shipment was also held back, is strug-gling to meet project deadlines.

“We had imported 40 mega-watts of modules earlier in the year from the same port without any hassles and now, suddenly, we can’t get more panels from there,” Azure Power Chairman Inderpreet Wadhwa said.

Anand Kumar, the top bu-reaucrat at the ministry of re-newable energy, said he has written to other departments to sort out the confusion. DS Ma-lik, a finance ministry spokes-man, couldn’t be reached for comment. Indian customs falls under the country’s finance ministry.

The issue has surfaced be-fore, BNEF’s Abraham said. In 2016, customs officials at the Jawaharlal Nehru port in Maharashtra made a similar distinction. It was resolved after the customs department issued a directive to exempt solar modules from duties as long as they weren’t connected to a motor or an electrolyser, he said.

Jurong Port enters oil storage business to diversify revenueReutersSingapore

Singapore port operator Jurong Port is entering the oil storage business to diversify its revenue as volumes

passing through its cement and steel ter-minals fall amid a slowdown in the con-struction and shipbuilding sectors, its chief executive said.

The government-linked company oper-ates a port for general, container and bulk cargoes, such as cement and steel, in the west of the city-state.

Singapore is the world’s second-largest container port by throughput after Shang-hai. Jurong Port, with its steel and cement volumes falling 10%-20% from a year ago as the construction industry shifts from loose cement and steel to prefabricated concrete, especially in the public housing sector, is transforming its business.

“We are transforming so we can intensi-fy the operations, such that perhaps what used to take fi ve berths will take 3 berths.

So we can use the additional freed-up berths for other types of businesses,” said chief executive Ooi Boon Hoe.

“We are not sounding the death knell to traditional cargoes. We (just)... need to do more in other sectors.”

Jurong Port is building a 480,000 cubic metres oil storage terminal on 16 hectares (39.5 acres) of land on its site to store clean petroleum products to be ready in the last quarter of 2019.

The terminal’s connectivity to the pe-

troleum and petrochemical network on Jurong Island – where oil major Exxon Mobil and others have refi nery and pet-rochemical complexes – is another reason why Jurong Port is diving into oil storage, Ooi told Reuters in an interview.

Despite a backwardated market – where front-month oil prices higher than in for-ward months make the storing of oil prod-ucts uneconomical and yield a glut in stor-age capacity – demand for tank capacity is expected to recover in two to three years, said Jurong Port Tank Terminals’ general manager Loh Wei.

Jurong Port is also banking on an in-crease in demand for marine gasoil ahead

of International Maritime Organisation (IMO) fuel standards that start in 2020 and which will likely cause shipowners to use more low sulphur gasoil to power ves-sels instead of fuel oil.

Jurong Port – which holds 60% of the stake in the tank terminal, with independ-ent oil storage operator Oiltanking taking the rest – will do the marketing for the project. The port operator expects steel and cement volumes to stabilise next year and pick up in the second half of 2018 as construction activity at Singapore’s air-port and in its private residential sector, which relies less on prefabricated con-crete, boosts demand.

China tightens controlson down paymentfinancing for home buyers

ReutersBeijing

Chinese authorities have

intensified eff orts to curb illegal

financing for mortgage down pay-

ments and asked banks to step up

checks on home buyers’ income

authenticity, the off icial Xinhua

news agency said, amid a drive to

rein in financial risks.

China’s housing market has

been on a near two-year tear,

giving the economy a major boost

but stirring fears of a property

bubble even as the authorities try

to contain risks from a rapid build-

up in debt.

While Beijing has introduced

a flurry of measures to dampen

housing speculation, including

raising the down payment ratio in

some cities, cases of savvy buy-

ers skirting the rules have been

reported by Chinese media.

The People’s Bank of China

(PBoC), the China Banking Regula-

tory Commission (CBRC), and the

Ministry of Housing and Urban-

Rural Development (MHURD)

jointly issued the directive against

illegal down payment financing,

Xinhua reported yesterday.

They will also strictly prevent

individual consumer loans

from being misused in housing

purchases, Xinhua said. The head

of the central bank warned in

October that China’s household

debt is rising too quickly, and

some analysts suspect a recent

burst of consumer loans points to

the illicit use of loans for property

investment.

Outstanding household

consumer loans in both yuan

and foreign currencies totalled

30.2tn yuan ($4.56tn) at the end

of September, jumping 29.1% from

a year earlier.

Intensified scrutiny should also

be applied to internet financing

companies and micro loan provid-

ers, Xinhua said.

While some analysts say the

crackdown over illegal funds

flowing into the property market

is a continuation of the existing

policy, a renewed, concerted

eff ort by the three government

entities suggest overheating has

become an increasingly serious

concern.

The report also said a joint

working mechanism will be

established to improve coordina-

tion among the three entities

to ensure the most up-to-date

housing sales and price data are

available to banks, in order to

eff ectively stem mortgage fraud.

Developers and real estate agents

must regulate their payment

process and report suspicious

transactions, it added.

Jurong Port in Singapore. The port, with its steel and cement volumes falling 10%-20% from a year ago as the construction industry shifts from loose cement and steel to prefabricated concrete, especially in the public housing sector, is transforming its business.

The spat risks imperilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of installing 100 gigawatts of solar energy by 2022. To meet that target, developers have relied on low-cost cells and modules from China, enabling tariff s in India to fall to among the lowest in the world

Page 3: up, unemployment BUSINESS

BUSINESS3Gulf Times

Saturday, November 4, 2017

BloombergHong Kong

HNA Group Co’s precarious grip on a $2.2bn Spanish hotel com-pany is in doubt as a mountain

of debt comes due and China puts the squeeze on its most prolifi c acquirers.

The Chinese conglomerate, whose assets include a quarter of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc, owns about 30% of Madrid-based NH Hotel Group SA. But HNA is in Spanish limbo: its di-rectors have been booted off the board in a shareholder revolt, while Beijing’s crackdown on overseas deals would obstruct any buyout that could bring NH Hotel to heel. Analysts anticipate a sellout.

A sale of HNA’s stake, which has a market value of more than €550mn ($641mn), might attract European hotel operators or real-estate funds, accord-ing to Oddo & Cie. The Spanish compa-ny’s inventory of almost 60,000 hotel rooms – stretching from New York to Luxembourg to Shijiazhuang, China – would appeal to Accor SA, making the French rival the most obvious suitor, according to Bankinter Securities SV SA.

“HNA is better off selling the stake in NH,” said Todd Schubert, head of fi xed-income research at Bank of Singapore Ltd. “As a 30% owner, they really don’t have any control. By selling they would both get rid of an asset that is somewhat of a public-relations problem while also raising some much- needed liquidity.”

Proceeds from the sale could ease the conglomerate’s refi nancing pres-sure. After the once little-known air-line operator went on a debt-fuelled acquisition spree – with more than $40bn of purchases announced since the beginning of 2016 - its interest ex-penses bloated to 15.6bn yuan ($2.4bn), exceeding earnings before interest and taxes. HNA just sold China’s most ex-pensive short-term dollar bond ever, highlighting concerns among investors about its high fi nancial leverage.

NH Hotel, which operates about 400 properties in 30 countries, was losing money when HNA invested in 2013. After a debt refi nancing, NH Hotel re-turned to profi t in 2015 and expects to generate net income of 100mn euros in 2019, according to targets announced in

September. Shares of NH Hotel climbed as much as 1% in Madrid yesterday be-fore surrendering those gains.

But after HNA extended its hotel-buying spree, the Spanish alliance un-ravelled. NH Hotel investors ousted HNA’s four board representatives in June 2016, claiming they were con-fl icted because HNA also agreed to buy competitor Rezidor Hotel Group AB. In September, a Spanish court reaffi rmed that putsch.

That decision left the Chinese con-glomerate, even as NH Hotel’s larg-est investor, with no say in how the business is run. Simultaneously, HNA - which also owns about 10% of Deut-sche Bank AG - is being reined in by Chinese authorities. They’ve put hotel investments on a list of restricted deals

as President Xi Jinping clamps down on mounting debt and capital outfl ows to protect the yuan.

As Europe’s largest hotel operator and the owner of the Novotel, Ibis and Mer-cure brands, Accor may be interested in HNA’s stake, said Javier Hombria Ges-toso, an analyst at Bankinter Securities in Madrid. He described Accor as “the primary suspect in terms of public com-panies” that could emerge as buyers.

Accor and NH Hotel both focus on business travelers, and NH Hotel could broaden Accor’s European footprint, said Fehmi Ben Naamane, an analyst at Oddo & Cie in Paris. Accor also expects to raise more than €4bn from selling a stake in its HotelInvest property unit.

“Accor could be a good fi t for NH,” Naamane said.

There’s also scope for an investment fund that’s focused on real estate to pursue HNA’s stake, then later spin off the property component. Either way, any buyer of HNA’s stake probably would make an off er for the rest of NH Hotel, Naamane said.

HNA declined to comment, while representatives at NH Hotel and Accor didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Rival hotel groups also may be in-terested. El Confi dencial reported in September that Spain’s Barcelo Hotels & Resorts had hired Banco Santander SA to assess a possible merger with NH Hotel.

To be sure, HNA may prefer to wait things out rather than sell. The con-glomerate’s ultimate goal may be to

merge its Brussels-based Rezidor hotel group with NH Hotel: Rezidor said last year it planned to study such a union as part of a plan to turn Rezidor into a global hotel chain. Such a combina-tion “seems justifi able,” said Guilherme Sampaio, an analyst at Banco BPI SA.

But HNA fi rst would need to over-come both NH Hotel shareholders and opposition in Beijing.

Plus, an exit from NH Hotel would unravel the Chinese company’s maiden overseas hotel acquisition - in an in-dustry that’s become one of its core in-vestment areas.

“HNA needs to do something,” said Nigel Stevenson, an analyst at Hong Kong-based GMT Research. “It could engineer a takeover by another com-pany, enabling it to exit at a premium.”

HNA may check out of Spanish hotel after getting kicked out

HNA Group’s precarious grip on a $2.2bn Spanish hotel is in doubt as a mountain of debt comes due and China puts the squeeze on its most prolific acquirers.

China services sector sees modest growthReutersBeijing

Activity picked up slightly in Chi-na’s services sector in October but growth remained modest

and much weaker than historical trends, a private survey showed yesterday.

The fi ndings, along with other pri-vate and offi cial business readings ear-lier in the week, are likely to reinforce views that the world’s second-largest economy saw a more subdued start to the fourth quarter after racing ahead earlier in the year.

The Caixin/Markit services purchas-ing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 51.2 in October, up slightly from September’s 21-month low but suggesting only a subdued expansion in activity and new orders.

A reading above 50 indicates growth,

and any lower signals deterioration on a monthly basis.

The index had hit a three-month high in August.

An offi cial gauge of the non-man-ufacturing sector on Tuesday showed slower but still relatively solid growth in October.

China’s leaders are counting on growth in services and consumption to rebalance their economic growth model from its heavy reliance on investment and exports.

The services sector accounts for over half of the economy, with rising wages giving Chinese consumers more spend-ing power that is being felt at home and abroad.

Unlike the offi cial data, the Caixin survey tends to focus more on small and mid-sized companies, which have tended to be under greater strain than their larger, state-supported peers.

But one positive takeaway from the latest Caixin survey suggested smaller fi rms may be regaining some pricing power.

While their input costs for raw mate-rial, fuel and labour continued to rise, service providers were able to raise their prices at the quickest pace in over two years, protecting profi t margins but also pointing to building infl ationary pres-sures.

China’s economy has surprised glo-bal fi nancial markets and investors with robust growth of nearly 7% so far this year, driven by a renaissance in long-ailing “smokestack” industries such as steel.

But property and construction activ-ity, two of the economy’s main growth drivers, are starting to cool under the weight of government measures to cool heated housing prices and higher bor-rowing costs.

While growth in services took up much of that slack in the third quar-ter, manufacturing may face a sharper slowdown in coming months as the government orders many mills and factories in northeast China to curtail or halt production to reduce winter air pollution.

Refl ecting the growing drag on man-ufacturing output, Caixin’s composite manufacturing and services PMI for October fell 0.4 points to 51.0 in Octo-ber, the lowest since June 2016.

“The Caixin PMIs for October showed that the economy had a rela-tively weak start to the fourth quar-ter.

However, monetary policy is unlikely to be loosened unless major downside risks emerge,”Zhengsheng Zhong, di-rector of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group, said in a note accompa-nying the survey.

China’s offi cial factory survey showed activity in energy-intensive and pollut-ing industries slowed in October in the face of government’s rigorous pollution measures.

At China’s recently-concluded Com-munist Party Congress, President Xi Jinping said the country would pursue high-quality growth over high-speed growth while reinforcing a pledge to win the war on pollution and clamp down on riskier types of lending.

Even with some loss of momentum in the fourth quarter, China’s economic growth is still expected to easily meet or beat the government’s full-year target of around 6.5% after a robust start to the year.

Analysts polled by Reuters last month forecast China’s 2017 growth at 6.8%, before slowing to 6.4% in 2018 as the property curbs and a crackdown on debt risks gain more traction.

Alibaba launches electronic trading hub in MalaysiaAFPKuala Lumpur

Alibaba launched an elec-tronic trading hub in Ma-laysia yesterday aimed

at helping small- and medium-sized businesses, a fi rst for the Chinese internet giant outside its home country.

The hub, part of a “digital free trade zone” near Kuala Lumpur International Airport, went live during a ceremony attended by Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.It was the latest move by Alibaba into Southeast Asia, one of the world’s hottest e-com-merce battlegrounds.

The company has already built up a substantial stake in re-gional online retailer Lazada.

The trading hub off ers Ma-laysian businesses help in areas including e-commerce, logistics and cloud computing, as well as in exporting their goods.

The broader digital free trade zone, spearheaded by a Malay-sian government agency, aims to help local fi rms sell their prod-ucts more easily globally, and to make Malaysia the gateway for products entering Southeast Asia from outside the region.

The ground-breaking on a regional e-commerce logistics hub, to be developed by Malay-sia’s main airport operator and Alibaba’s logistics affi liate, also took place.

Small and medium-sized en-terprises “have the power to transform the economy.

They are ambitious, nimble and have the potential to create high value employment”, Najib was cited as saying by state-run news agency Bernama.

Ma last year became the Ma-laysian government’s “digital economy” adviser.

Queensland premier says won’t support Australian Adani’s coal loan

BloombergHong Kong

Queensland premier Annastacia

Palaszczuk said the Australian

state won’t support a federal

government loan to help finance

Adani Group’s $16.5bn Car-

michael coal mine in order for

her to avoid the appearance of a

conflict of interest.

Palaszczuk will notify Austral-

ian Prime Minister Malcolm

Turnbull that the Queensland

government will “exercise its ‘veto’

to not support” the loan from the

Northern Australia Infrastructure

facility, known as NAIF, according

to a statement from the state’s

leader yesterday. A decision is yet

to be made on Adani’s A$900mn

($691mn) loan application.

Palaszczuk said in her state-

ment that she made the decision

after learning her political

opponents intended to use her

partner’s role at Pricewater-

houseCoopers, which acted for

Adani on their loan application, to

“smear” her and her government.

“My government has had

no role to date in the federal

government’s NAIF loan assess-

ment process for Adani, now we

will have no role in the future,”

she said in the statement. “The

government I lead will leave

no doubt in the minds of every

Queenslander about our abso-

lute integrity.”

A spokesman for Adani

Australia didn’t immediately

respond to an emailed request

for comment. The decision to

veto requires support from

Liberal National Party leader Tim

Nicholls after Palaszczuk asked

the state’s acting governor to dis-

solve parliament on Sunday.

Modi fl aunts ease of doing business ranking to seek global investmentIANSNew Delhi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday

invited global investors to India where starting

business he said was “easier now”, flaunting the

country’s improved World Bank ranking in the

ease of doing business.

He said his government had repealed archaic

laws and launched attractive fiscal incentives

that simplified and reduced compliance require-

ments, helping India jump 30 places in the World

Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking to break

into the top 100-nation club.

Describing India as “one of the fastest growing

economies” in the world, Modi at the inaugura-

tion of World Food India 2017 said it was an

opportune time for global businesses to invest in

the country.

“India has jumped 30 ranks this year in the

World Bank’s (Ease of) Doing Business rankings.

This is the highest ever improvement for India

and the highest jump for any country this year.

From a rank of 142 in 2014, we have now reached

the top 100.

“India was ranked number one in the world

in 2016 in greenfield investment. India is also

rapidly progressing on the Global Innovation

Index, Global Logistics Index and Global Com-

petitiveness Index. “Starting a new business in

India is now easier than ever before. Procedures

for obtaining clearances from various agencies

have been simplified. Archaic laws have been

repealed and the burden of compliances has

been reduced,” Modi told the gathering of global

businessmen on the first day of the three-day

conference.

Billed as the biggest congregation of business

leaders of major food companies in the world,

the conference aims to transform the food

economy and realise the government’s vision of

doubling famers’ income by establishing India as

a preferred investment destination and sourcing-

hub for the global food processing industry.

Modi invited investment in India’s food

processing sector that allows 100% foreign

investment and promised full support in the

industry that is on priority of the government’s

ambitious “Make In India” programme.

“Come. Invest in India. The place with unlim-

ited opportunity from farm to fork. The place to

produce, process and prosper. For India, and for

the world,” Modi said.

Modi said India off ered single window

clearance for investors with attractive fiscal

incentives.

“There are opportunities in post-harvest man-

agement, like primary processing and storage,

preservation infra, cold chain and refrigerated

transportation. “There is also immense potential

for food processing and value addition in areas

such as organic and fortified foods.”

He said the government had taken a range

of “transformational initiatives” to make the

country “most preferred investment destination

in this sector”.

Modi said the recently launched unique portal

– Nivesh Bandhu (Investor’s Friend) – would

bring together information on central and state

government policies and incentives provided for

the food processing sector.

Modi said India with its rich legacy of spices

could provide solutions and off er a win-win part-

nership as the world was becoming increasingly

averse to the use of artificial colours, chemicals

and preservatives.

Minister of Food Processing Industries

Harsimrat Kaur Badal said in her address that

agreements worth $10bn were expected to be

signed during the global event.

“Our demand of food is set to double over the

next five years. Being the sixth largest food and

grocery market in the world, India is a destina-

tion that merits global attention in the food

sector.” She said there was a need to wage war

on food waste “to ensure adequate food for all”

and to avoid a food crisis as the world’s popula-

tion was set to increase by 25 per cent and the

demand for food by 50% by 2050.Modi: Inviting investment in India’s food processing sector.

Page 4: up, unemployment BUSINESS

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Saturday, November 4, 20174

Singapore police to examineGoldman role in 1MDB dealsBloombergSingapore

Singaporean prosecutors and police are examining Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s relationship

with the Malaysian state investment fund at the centre of global mon-ey laundering probes, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The Commercial Affairs Depart-ment, the police’s economic crime unit, and city prosecutors have inter-viewed current and former Goldman Sachs executives who worked on bond offerings from 1Malaysia Develop-ment Bhd, said the people, who asked not to be named because the queries are confidential. Investigators are also looking into the firm’s links with Ma-laysian financier Low Taek Jho, who the US has alleged controlled a plot to siphon billions of dollars from the bond proceeds, the people said.

Investigators’ meetings with cur-rent and former Goldman Sachs em-ployees are part of a criminal probe into fund flows related to 1MDB, the people said. The bank itself isn’t the focus of the investigation, they said. Neither Goldman Sachs nor its cur-rent or former employees have been publicly accused of criminal offences or charged in relation to the fund, whose dealings have sparked probes in Singapore, Switzerland and the US.

The interviews, which took place as recently as October, add to the scru-tiny the New York-based bank faces over its role in raising almost $6bn for 1MDB in 2012 and 2013. The money was meant for development projects but US prosecutors allege that the bulk of it was diverted by high-level 1MDB officials and their associates.

Investigators in Singapore have asked for details about specifi c meet-ings involving Goldman Sachs offi cials concerning the bond deals, the people said. They’ve also quizzed the current and former bank employees about the nature of the fi rm’s relationship with Low, and whether he was considered a client, according to the people.

“We are unable to comment because investigations are ongoing,” a spokes-woman at the Singapore Attorney-General’s Chambers said in response to questions. A Goldman Sachs spokes-man declined to comment.

The 1MDB bonds were arranged and underwritten by Goldman Sachs In-ternational, the bank’s London-based unit. Both 1MDB and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who formerly chaired its advisory board, have con-sistently denied any wrongdoing.

It’s not clear whether Singapore’s investigation will result in any charg-es, and if so, against whom. Gold-man Sachs’s work with 1MDB has also

drawn scrutiny from US authorities, including the Justice Department and New York’s banking regulator.

Goldman Sachs earned some $593mn in fees and commissions for arranging the 1MDB bond deals – a sum that drew scrutiny from Malay-sian politicians. Investigators in Sin-gapore have asked the current and former employees about the fees the bank received, as well as if any fees were due to the Abu Dhabi govern-ment-owned fund International Pe-troleum Investment Co for guarantee-ing two of the bonds, the people said.

Goldman Sachs has previously said the Malaysia fees represented its un-derwriting risks and market condi-tions at the time. Representatives for 1MDB and IPIC didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Three calls to Low’s Hong Kong-based Jynwel Capital Ltd weren’t answered. Low said through a repre-sentative in July that no wrongdoing has been proven in any jurisdiction on the alleged misappropriation of 1MDB funds. While IPIC has verified

the guarantees it made on the 1MDB bonds, it denied ownership of a com-pany known as Aabar BVI, to which 1MDB said it sent $3.5bn.

US investigators alleged in a July 2016 lawsuit that the offering circu-lars of the bonds contained material misrepresentations and omissions, including how the proceeds would be used and whether any officials from 1MDB and IPIC, and their associates, would personally benefit. The pro-spectus for one of the bonds said the proceeds could be used for general corporate purposes.

Goldman Sachs’s ties with 1MDB have already ensnared one former senior executive. Tim Leissner, the former chairman of Southeast Asia who was the lead banker to the fund, has been barred from the financial in-dustries in Singapore and the US He left Goldman Sachs in February 2016.

The Monetary Authority of Singa-pore in March barred Leissner from its securities industry for 10 years, saying he issued an unauthorised reference letter on behalf of Low to a financial

institution and made false statements on behalf of Goldman Sachs without the bank’s knowledge. In September, the US’s Financial Industry Regula-tory Authority indefinitely barred Leissner for failing to provide docu-ments related to the letter.

The meetings being examined by Sin-gapore investigators include one in early 2012 about the bond off erings that was attended by Leissner, Low and offi cials from Swiss private bank BSI SA, said the people. Also in focus was a presentation that took place that year that led to IPIC agreeing to guarantee one of the bonds, dubbed Project Magnolia, and indirectly vouch for another, known as Project Maximus, one of the people said.

A representative for Leissner didn’t reply to a request for comment. Leiss-ner’s lawyer Marc Harris said in De-cember that his client looked forward to responding to the MAS about the allegations against him.

About $1.4bn from the bond pro-ceeds were diverted to a bank ac-count at BSI in Switzerland over sev-eral months in 2012, according to US

court filings. The Swiss bank has seen three of its former employees receive jail terms in Singapore on charges linked to the 1MDB probe, and its lo-cal branch was shut down by the city’s authorities.

Luciano Crobu, a spokesman at EFG International AG, which acquired BSI in 2016, declined to comment.

The MAS wrapped up a two-year regulatory review of banks involved in 1MDB fund flows in May, and vowed to intensify its supervision of the finan-cial industry after the city’s image was dented by the scandal. The regulator has fined some of the world’s biggest banks over lapses related to 1MDB.

The US Justice Department in Au-gust asked a judge to put on hold more than a dozen civil forfeiture lawsuits seeking at least $1bn in assets, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation said possible witnesses related to 1MDB are too scared to talk for fear of retaliation. Switzerland’s financial regulator said in April that it’s still probing three private banks over their roles with 1MDB.

Goldman Sachs earned some $593mn in fees and commissions for arranging the 1MDB bond deals, a sum that drew scrutiny from Malaysian politicians. Investigators in Singapore have asked the current and former employees about the fees the bank received, as well as if any fees were due to the Abu Dhabi government-owned fund International Petroleum Investment Co for guaranteeing two of the bonds, sources said.

India tops in domestic air passengertraffi c in SeptemberIANSNew Delhi

India’s domestic passenger traffi c was the highest among major aviation markets at

15.5% in September, followed by China and the Russian Federa-tion, a global airline association said yesterday.

The International Air Trans-port Association (IATA), in its global passenger traffi c data, re-vealed that India’s domestic de-mand – revenue passenger kilo-metres (RPK) – was the highest among major aviation markets like Australia, Brazil, China, Ja-pan, Russia and the US.

The IATA data showed that India’s domestic RPK – which measures actual passenger traf-fi c – rose by 15.5% in September compared with the correspond-ing month of the previous year.

India was followed by China (10.1%) and the Russian Federa-tion at 7.3%.

In terms of capacity, India’s domestic ASK – which meas-ures available passenger capac-ity – climbed higher by 13.9% in September, followed by China’s (10.7%) and Russian Federation’s 7.2%.

“Domestic demand climbed 4.2% in September compared with September 2016, heavily af-fected by weather disruptions in the US market, which accounts for more than 40% of all domes-tic RPKs,” IATA said.

“India and China continued to lead all markets with double-digit annual traffi c increases while results were mixed else-where. Capacity rose 4.7% and load factor slipped 0.4 percent-age points to 82.2%,” it added.

The international passenger demand for September climbed 5.7% compared with the year-ago period.

In addition, the September capacity edged higher by 5.3% and load factor was up 0.3% at 81.6%.

“September’s growth in pas-senger demand was healthy, not-withstanding the heavy impacts of extreme weather events on the Americas,” said IATA Director General and Chief Executive Of-fi cer Alexandre de Juniac.

“Global economic condi-tions support rising passenger demand, but with higher cost inputs, the demand stimula-tion from lower fares has waned, suggesting a moderating trend in traffi c growth,” he added.

PTT’s $11bn cash spurs talks with producers on investmentsBloombergSingapore

Thailand’s PTT Pcl, which has about $11bn in cash and marketable securi-ties, is talking with major oil-produc-

ing countries about strategic partnerships that would allow it to invest in upstream as-sets abroad.

Middle Eastern nations are among those involved in the discussions with the largest Thai energy company, chief executive of-fi cer Tevin Vongvanich said in an interview in Bangkok on Thursday. The partnerships would give producing countries an oppor-tunity to invest in the Thai energy sector too, he said.

“We have an ample amount of cash that we can look for investment opportunities with, and this is a good time to talk with producers,” Tevin said on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum’s Asian Min-isterial Energy Roundtable, which was at-tended by ministers from such countries as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar.

When Chinese companies are excluded, majority state-owned PTT has the most cash available to invest of any fi rm in the MSCI AC Asia Pacifi c Energy Index, accord-ing to data compiled by Bloomberg. PTT Exploration & Production Pcl, the country’s separately traded upstream arm, has anoth-er $4.1bn.

Tevin said the opportunities available to partners could include joint investment with PTT along Thailand’s eastern seaboard or in other Asian countries.

Saudi Arabia and Thailand supported an initial framework for a tie-up covering ex-ploration, production, trading and renew-able energy, Thai Energy Minister Anan-taporn Kanjanarat said on Wednesday, after meeting with Saudi counterpart Khalid al-Falih in Bangkok.

PTT is trying to capitalise on lower costs to invest in upstream projects as oil prices are still about half of what they were in the summer of 2014, despite a recent rally. Al-Falih said Thursday that about $1tn in planned investments in oil and gas have been cancelled since prices began to fall in 2014.

Thailand is also trying to secure energy for a growing economy as production from

its major off shore fi elds, Bongkot and Er-awan, is expected to fall as they mature. The government projects that Thailand will have to import 35mn tons a year of LNG by 2035, up from about 2.9mn last year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

“Today is a good time to be a long-term partner,” Tevin said. “It’s also good for us to own production fi elds to help prevent sup-ply interruptions.”

PBoC offers 404bn yuan loansin move seen steadying marketBloombergBeijing

China’s central bank moved to stabilise money supply

yesterday, capping a week that began with a bond

rout and more than 1tn yuan ($151bn) of loans due to

mature.

The People’s Bank of China off ered 404bn yuan

of one-year funds under the Medium-Term Lending

Facility, compared with 207bn yuan of maturities,

according to a statement on the monetary author-

ity’s website. That takes total injections this week

– through MLFs and reverse-repurchases agree-

ments – to just over 1tn yuan, slightly exceeding the

amount due. Yesterday’s MLFs were off ered at 3.20%,

unchanged from the previous operation.

China’s debt market has been through a tumultu-

ous few days, with the benchmark 10-year yield

surging to a three-year high on Monday amid concern

policymakers would toughen a drive to reduce

borrowing levels in the financial system. Recent

comments from the PBoC governor signalling higher-

than-expected economic growth and a slide in US

Treasuries exacerbated the pressure last week.

“The market has been waiting for the PBoC to take

a major action to reverse the pessimistic sentiment,

and this big MLF injection is that action,” said Tommy

Xie, an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp

in Singapore. “Concerns still outweigh the good news

and sentiment is still fragile.” What’s Next for China

Markets Now Xi Jinping’s Party Is Over

The yield on 10-year sovereign notes rose one

basis point to 3.89% in Shanghai on Friday, extend-

ing this week’s increase to five basis points. The yield

had surged 20 basis points in the four days through

Monday before central bank cash injections eased the

pressure.

“I don’t see a strong easing policy signal here”

because the PBoC’s cash injections this week don’t

exceed maturities all that much, said Liu Dongliang,

a senior analyst at China Merchants Bank Co in Shen-

zhen. “The pressures for bonds and money market

rates will remain in the coming two months as nega-

tive factors, such as the lack of easing and improve-

ment in the economy, will persist.”

The People’s Bank of China in Beijing. China’s central bank moved to stabilise money supply yesterday, capping a week that began with a bond rout and more than 1tn yuan ($151bn) of loans due to mature.

Page 5: up, unemployment BUSINESS

CURRENCIESDOLLAR QATAR RIYAL SAUDI RIYAL UAE DIRHAMS BAHRAINI

DINARKUWAITI

DINAR

Markets tread water as US employment data fall shortAFPLondon

World stock markets were mostly steady yesterday as investors shrugged off un-

derwhelming US jobs data but wel-comed stellar results from tech giant Apple.

Approaching mid-session in New York, the Dow was content to consoli-date, having fi nished the previous day at a fresh record high after US Presi-dent Donald Trump nominated Jerome Powell to lead the Federal Reserve and congressional Republicans unveiled their long-awaited tax-cutting plan.

Payroll data showing that US em-ployers added 261,000 net new posts did little for sentiment, as the fi gures came in over 40,000 jobs below pre-dictions.

The October data showed a bounce-back from a drop in the payroll the pre-vious month due to storms that idled the energy hub of southeast Texas and

forced millions of Floridians to fl ee their homes.

The US jobless rate meanwhile fell to its lowest level in 17 years, but analysts said the jobs data gave no fi rm indica-tions on the likelihood of a Federal Re-serve rate hike in December.

“Despite the fact that the US jobs report almost always provides signifi -cant market volatility, today’s fi gures are unlikely to have a huge impact on whether the Fed will raise rates next month,” said Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG trading group.

Frankfurt ended the day with a 0.3% gain at 13,478.86 points, while Paris managed to creep into positive terri-tory in time for the closing bell, closing 0.1% up at 5,517.97 points.

London also added a few points, allow-ing it to establish a new closing record.

London’ FTSE 100 closed 0.1% up at 7,560.35 points.

The EURO STOXX 50 was fl at at 3,689.96 points at close.

On the corporate front yesterday, shares in Apple rose 2.3% after the

tech behemoth said profi t rose 19% to $10.7bn and predicted bumper sales for its 10th anniversary iPhone X.

Apple’s latest smartphone was launched in more than 50 countries and territories, with lengthy overnight queues at stores worldwide.

In Europe, London stocks received a modest fi llip as traders cheered bet-ter-than-expected growth for the UK services sector, but this was mostly off set by a recovery in the pound, which tends to weigh on the earnings of exporters.

Analysts said overall UK economic growth was set to have picked up pace in the fourth quarter on rising services, supporting the Bank of England’s de-cision this week to raise its key interest rate for the fi rst time in a decade and also helping sterling.

The BoE on Thursday raised its key rate from a record-low 0.25% to 0.50% in a bid to combat high UK infl ation.

In France, Renault led the way in jumping 4.2% after the government reduced its stake in the car giant.

Pedestrians walk across Paternoster Square in front of the London Stock Exchange Group headquarters. London’ FTSE 100 closed 0.1% up at 7,560.35 points yesterday.

BUSINESS5Gulf Times

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Apple IncMicrosoft Corp

Exxon Mobil CorpJohnson & JohnsonGeneral Electric Co

Jpmorgan Chase & CoProcter & Gamble Co/The

Wal-Mart Stores IncVerizon Communications Inc

Pfizer IncVisa Inc-Class A Shares

Chevron CorpCoca-Cola Co/The

Intel CorpMerck & Co. Inc.

Cisco Systems IncHome Depot Inc

Intl Business Machines CorpWalt Disney Co/The

Unitedhealth Group Inc3M Co

Mcdonald’s CorpNike Inc -Cl B

United Technologies CorpBoeing Co/The

Goldman Sachs Group IncAmerican Express Co

Du Pont (E.I.) De NemoursCaterpillar Inc

Travelers Cos Inc/The

172.93

84.09

83.38

139.69

19.89

101.02

86.70

89.77

47.47

35.43

111.07

115.03

46.10

46.27

55.74

34.28

164.41

152.42

99.09

211.19

231.68

169.12

55.42

121.01

262.43

244.51

96.09

0.00

136.72

133.23

2.87

0.04

-0.19

-0.17

-0.25

-0.56

0.22

1.09

0.01

-0.08

0.08

-0.26

0.48

-1.76

0.66

0.20

1.04

-0.61

0.75

0.04

-0.24

0.61

0.54

-0.37

-0.08

-0.96

0.11

0.00

0.18

-1.08

37,330,853

7,266,757

2,050,515

1,011,999

21,181,832

2,857,930

1,611,505

2,914,023

3,737,625

3,499,682

1,497,318

1,235,428

1,737,905

11,501,064

3,618,177

4,703,413

1,320,900

1,770,940

2,142,216

580,801

480,602

792,335

4,126,488

955,277

1,066,399

768,086

651,209

-

920,236

403,742

DJIA

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Wpp PlcWorldpay Group Plc

Wolseley PlcWm Morrison Supermarkets

Whitbread PlcVodafone Group Plc

United Utilities Group PlcUnilever Plc

Tui Ag-DiTravis Perkins Plc

Tesco PlcTaylor Wimpey Plc

Standard Life PlcStandard Chartered Plc

St James’s Place PlcSse Plc

Smith & Nephew PlcSky Plc

Shire PlcSevern Trent Plc

Schroders PlcSainsbury (J) Plc

Sage Group Plc/TheAbi Sab Group Holding Ltd

Rsa Insurance Group PlcRoyal Mail Plc

Royal Dutch Shell Plc-B ShsRoyal Dutch Shell Plc-A Shs

Royal Bank Of Scotland GroupRolls-Royce Holdings Plc

Rio Tinto PlcRexam Ltd

Relx PlcReckitt Benckiser Group Plc

Randgold Resources LtdPrudential Plc

Provident Financial PlcPersimmon Plc

Pearson PlcPaddy Power Betfair Plc

Old Mutual PlcNext Plc

National Grid PlcMondi Plc

Merlin EntertainmentMediclinic International Plc

Marks & Spencer Group PlcLondon Stock Exchange Group

Lloyds Banking Group PlcLegal & General Group PlcLand Securities Group Plc

Kingfisher PlcJohnson Matthey Plc

Itv PlcIntu Properties Plc

Intl Consolidated Airline-DiIntertek Group Plc

Intercontinental Hotels GrouInmarsat Plc

Informa PlcImperial Brands Plc

Hsbc Holdings PlcHargreaves Lansdown Plc

Hammerson PlcGlencore Plc

Glaxosmithkline PlcGkn Plc

Fresnillo PlcExperian Plc

Easyjet PlcDixons Carphone Plc

Direct Line Insurance GroupDiageo Plc

Dcc PlcCrh Plc

Compass Group PlcCoca-Cola Hbc Ag-Di

Centrica PlcCarnival Plc

Capita PlcBurberry Group Plc

Bunzl PlcBt Group Plc

British Land Co PlcBritish American Tobacco Plc

Bp PlcBhp Billiton Plc

Berkeley Group Holdings/TheBarratt Developments Plc

Barclays PlcBae Systems Plc

Babcock Intl Group PlcAviva Plc

Astrazeneca PlcAssociated British Foods Plc

Ashtead Group PlcArm Holdings Plc

Antofagasta PlcAnglo American Plc

Admiral Group Plc3I Group Plc

#N/A

1,319.00

406.20

0.00

219.50

3,724.00

219.30

836.50

4,288.00

1,361.00

1,569.00

179.60

199.70

0.00

722.10

1,188.00

1,367.00

1,409.00

948.50

3,722.00

2,131.00

3,494.00

235.30

760.00

0.00

616.00

380.80

2,474.00

2,436.50

278.20

973.00

3,719.00

0.00

1,739.00

6,584.00

6,930.00

1,867.50

918.50

2,827.00

694.00

8,280.00

193.50

4,478.00

917.80

1,832.00

377.60

593.50

328.60

3,754.00

67.39

272.60

958.00

318.00

3,507.00

160.90

219.00

619.50

5,360.00

4,367.00

595.50

708.50

3,033.00

738.90

1,584.00

530.00

377.80

1,362.00

318.80

1,294.00

1,606.00

1,313.00

163.40

365.70

2,599.50

7,260.00

2,788.00

1,668.00

2,650.00

167.80

4,986.00

524.50

1,910.00

2,321.00

249.15

599.50

4,994.50

516.90

1,425.00

3,711.00

655.00

183.20

591.00

816.00

508.50

5,166.00

3,338.00

1,974.00

0.00

988.00

1,477.50

1,862.00

968.50

0.00

-0.30

-0.83

0.00

-1.53

1.28

-0.90

1.15

0.69

0.67

1.42

0.00

-0.99

0.00

-0.51

-1.00

0.15

1.88

-0.21

-0.35

1.48

0.46

-0.72

2.01

0.00

-1.12

-0.05

-0.04

0.10

-1.28

0.83

-0.65

0.00

1.28

0.03

0.00

0.03

0.05

-0.39

-0.57

1.60

-0.72

-0.49

0.28

-0.54

0.19

-1.17

-0.21

0.11

-0.81

0.26

-0.26

2.71

2.84

0.06

-0.99

-1.82

0.75

1.99

-3.09

2.31

-1.21

0.23

0.76

-0.09

-0.85

0.26

-0.69

-0.99

1.71

-1.28

-2.80

-0.92

1.09

1.61

-0.57

1.03

3.19

0.48

0.65

0.29

1.00

0.43

-1.75

-0.08

0.49

-0.23

-1.42

-0.78

-0.23

-0.97

1.37

0.74

-1.26

0.27

1.03

2.07

0.00

-0.50

-1.24

0.70

0.57

0.00

1,921,435

2,060,553

-

4,932,269

418,701

30,410,229

984,102

1,421,327

684,874

672,678

9,862,830

7,261,575

-

3,837,779

448,675

1,158,778

3,142,450

1,546,154

2,180,217

468,220

128,213

5,050,196

1,190,017

-

1,341,918

1,674,911

3,559,820

3,323,530

7,242,160

17,644,400

1,627,599

-

1,622,622

906,037

599,846

2,056,318

344,258

572,118

1,630,703

115,949

4,101,603

424,478

3,874,461

938,375

2,502,674

912,261

4,025,311

266,313

60,994,048

7,457,668

1,065,705

9,057,479

324,153

10,564,084

3,380,739

13,282,854

106,537

448,208

2,034,066

1,151,007

1,807,377

13,817,591

248,620

1,545,386

19,711,641

5,456,283

3,770,338

622,972

936,489

1,293,790

9,624,294

1,922,483

1,756,163

111,545

1,237,963

1,590,662

434,940

11,298,498

276,977

1,034,023

2,060,495

230,251

14,380,027

1,532,391

1,628,717

16,081,222

4,295,405

265,534

2,048,001

36,081,052

3,317,703

1,169,931

4,821,852

795,057

304,692

768,065

-

1,537,520

2,931,426

440,143

524,352

-

FTSE 100

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

East Japan Railway CoItochu Corp

Fujifilm Holdings CorpYamato Holdings Co Ltd

Chubu Electric Power Co IncMitsubishi Estate Co Ltd

Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesToshiba Corp

Shiseido Co LtdShionogi & Co Ltd

Tokyo Gas Co LtdTokyo Electron Ltd

Panasonic CorpFujitsu Ltd

Central Japan Railway CoT&D Holdings Inc

Toyota Motor CorpKddi Corp

Nitto Denko Corp

11,150.00

1,996.00

4,570.00

2,257.50

1,477.50

2,063.00

4,308.00

329.00

4,681.00

6,193.00

2,794.50

22,535.00

1,713.00

876.30

20,965.00

1,783.00

7,155.00

3,083.00

11,295.00

0.31

-0.65

0.09

-0.88

-0.30

-0.29

-0.30

-0.60

0.24

-0.75

0.05

0.58

-3.33

-2.20

0.43

1.36

1.66

1.18

1.16

581,300

9,596,900

1,994,300

2,835,500

1,197,300

3,208,100

2,413,100

6,553,000

2,350,600

1,298,200

1,488,400

2,580,200

19,266,900

22,952,000

350,000

2,784,400

8,493,900

6,108,800

1,171,900

TOKYO

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Rakuten IncKyocera Corp

Nissan Motor Co LtdHitachi Ltd

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co LtdJfe Holdings Inc

Ana Holdings IncMitsubishi Electric Corp

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial GrHonda Motor Co Ltd

Fast Retailing Co LtdMs&Ad Insurance Group Holdin

Kubota CorpSeven & I Holdings Co Ltd

Inpex CorpResona Holdings Inc

Asahi Kasei CorpKirin Holdings Co Ltd

Marubeni CorpMitsubishi Ufj Financial Gro

Mitsubishi Chemical HoldingsFanuc Corp

Daito Trust Construct Co LtdOtsuka Holdings Co Ltd

Oriental Land Co LtdSekisui House Ltd

Secom Co LtdTokio Marine Holdings Inc

Aeon Co LtdMitsui & Co Ltd

Kao CorpDai-Ichi Life Holdings Inc

Mazda Motor CorpKomatsu Ltd

West Japan Railway CoMurata Manufacturing Co Ltd

Kansai Electric Power Co IncDenso Corp

Sompo Holdings IncDaiwa House Industry Co Ltd

Jxtg Holdings IncNippon Steel & Sumitomo Meta

Suzuki Motor CorpNippon Telegraph & Telephone

Ajinomoto Co IncMitsui Fudosan Co Ltd

Ono Pharmaceutical Co LtdDaikin Industries Ltd

Bank Of Yokohama Ltd/TheToray Industries IncAstellas Pharma Inc

Bridgestone CorpSony CorpHoya Corp

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust HoldinJapan Tobacco Inc

Osaka Gas Co LtdSumitomo Electric Industries

Daiwa Securities Group IncSoftbank Group Corp

Mizuho Financial Group IncNomura Holdings Inc

Daiichi Sankyo Co LtdSubaru Corp

Ntt Docomo IncSumitomo Realty & Developmen

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co LtdOrix Corp

Asahi Group Holdings LtdKeyence Corp

Nidec CorpIsuzu Motors Ltd

Unicharm CorpShin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd

Smc CorpMitsubishi CorpNintendo Co Ltd

Eisai Co LtdSumitomo Corp

Canon IncJapan Airlines Co Ltd

1,175.50

7,946.00

1,111.50

897.00

6,453.00

2,544.00

4,428.00

1,896.50

4,567.00

3,762.00

37,770.00

3,805.00

2,126.50

4,591.00

1,257.00

623.10

1,399.00

2,693.50

763.70

773.80

1,203.50

26,970.00

20,470.00

4,670.00

9,140.00

2,137.00

8,776.00

4,843.00

1,751.00

1,692.00

6,916.00

2,189.00

1,653.00

3,785.00

8,071.00

16,405.00

1,584.00

6,373.00

4,604.00

4,239.00

607.40

2,694.00

6,268.00

5,565.00

2,305.00

2,692.00

2,614.50

12,760.00

0.00

1,167.50

1,518.00

5,501.00

5,054.00

6,228.00

4,477.00

3,804.00

2,226.50

1,953.50

712.80

10,210.00

207.20

650.80

2,632.00

3,917.00

2,751.50

3,839.00

4,834.00

2,039.50

5,235.00

62,980.00

15,465.00

1,669.00

2,597.50

12,110.00

44,200.00

2,694.00

42,950.00

6,492.00

1,663.00

4,289.00

4,012.00

-1.43

0.61

0.23

-1.22

-0.54

3.37

-0.67

0.24

0.53

5.20

0.40

-0.76

0.95

0.26

1.95

0.74

-0.78

0.60

-1.42

0.74

-0.08

0.48

0.20

-1.60

-0.12

0.45

0.83

-0.27

0.14

-0.70

0.71

0.83

1.19

-0.73

0.65

-0.49

-0.66

-0.16

0.39

0.40

0.76

-0.22

-0.02

0.29

0.24

0.50

0.17

1.11

0.00

1.30

1.47

0.59

2.77

-1.03

1.04

1.20

0.95

0.57

1.93

0.79

0.29

-0.34

-0.55

-0.31

-0.05

1.35

3.98

1.92

0.73

0.03

-0.19

0.97

-0.23

0.54

1.26

0.88

-0.99

2.58

0.00

0.12

0.27

TOKYO

Company Name Lt Price % Chg

Aluminum Corp Of China Ltd-HBank Of East Asia Ltd

Bank Of China Ltd-HBank Of Communications Co-H

Belle International HoldingsBoc Hong Kong Holdings Ltd

Cathay Pacific AirwaysCk Hutchison Holdings Ltd

China Coal Energy Co-HChina Construction Bank-H

China Life Insurance Co-HChina Merchants Port Holding

China Mobile LtdChina Overseas Land & Invest

China Petroleum & Chemical-HChina Resources Beer Holdin

China Resources Land LtdChina Resources Power Holdin

China Shenhua Energy Co-HChina Unicom Hong Kong Ltd

Citic LtdClp Holdings Ltd

Cnooc LtdCosco Shipping Ports Ltd

Esprit Holdings LtdFih Mobile Ltd

Hang Lung Properties LtdHang Seng Bank Ltd

Henderson Land Development

6.02

33.95

3.84

5.83

0.00

36.80

13.20

99.15

3.51

6.85

27.25

23.85

78.85

25.10

5.74

22.25

23.70

14.74

19.36

11.78

11.46

79.30

10.86

9.09

4.70

2.34

17.98

184.00

52.90

-2.27

-0.59

-0.26

0.17

0.00

-0.41

-1.05

-0.05

-1.13

-0.44

-0.55

-0.63

0.32

-0.79

-0.35

0.68

0.42

-0.41

1.68

1.38

0.53

0.57

-0.91

0.33

3.52

0.00

0.00

-0.16

1.73

36,063,779

1,147,329

334,193,533

28,822,945

-

10,489,360

2,066,147

5,181,461

11,604,442

197,360,977

52,988,891

3,304,241

14,889,378

8,249,812

72,419,164

3,492,932

4,580,267

3,590,002

25,566,843

60,663,734

6,299,591

1,599,282

52,941,709

1,295,494

6,798,798

8,843,062

4,009,081

718,613

4,115,588

HONG KONG

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Hong Kong & China GasHong Kong Exchanges & Clear

Hsbc Holdings PlcHutchison Whampoa Ltd

Ind & Comm Bk Of China-HLi & Fung Ltd

Mtr CorpNew World Development

Petrochina Co Ltd-HPing An Insurance Group Co-H

Power Assets Holdings LtdSino Land Co

Sun Hung Kai PropertiesSwire Pacific Ltd - Cl ATencent Holdings Ltd

Wharf Holdings Ltd

14.80

224.20

75.60

0.00

6.25

3.85

44.85

11.98

5.28

70.70

67.50

13.66

128.00

77.40

368.00

74.75

0.14

0.18

-0.33

0.00

0.32

-2.53

-0.22

1.53

-0.38

0.93

0.52

0.44

-0.54

0.19

1.71

4.04

4,630,276

4,101,081

20,538,341

-

171,191,781

16,574,715

2,402,166

13,335,349

190,475,841

30,551,298

1,780,665

2,225,712

2,670,982

845,760

16,625,181

7,324,212

HONG KONG

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Zee Entertainment EnterpriseYes Bank Ltd

Wipro LtdVedanta Ltd

Ultratech Cement LtdTech Mahindra Ltd

Tata Steel LtdTata Power Co Ltd

Tata Motors LtdTata Consultancy Svcs Ltd

Sun Pharmaceutical IndusState Bank Of India

Reliance Industries LtdPunjab National Bank

Power Grid Corp Of India LtdOil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd

Ntpc LtdMaruti Suzuki India Ltd

Mahindra & Mahindra LtdLupin Ltd

Larsen & Toubro LtdKotak Mahindra Bank Ltd

Itc LtdInfosys Ltd

Indusind Bank LtdIdea Cellular Ltd

Icici Bank LtdHousing Development Finance

Hindustan Unilever LtdHindalco Industries Ltd

Hero Motocorp LtdHdfc Bank Limited

Hcl Technologies LtdGrasim Industries Ltd

Gail India LtdDr. Reddy’s Laboratories

Coal India LtdCipla Ltd

Cairn India LtdBosch Ltd

Bharti Airtel LtdBharat Petroleum Corp Ltd

Bharat Heavy ElectricalsBank Of Baroda

Bajaj Auto LtdAxis Bank Ltd

Asian Paints LtdAmbuja Cements Ltd

Adani Ports And Special EconAcc Ltd

538.95

325.95

294.55

338.10

4,375.10

463.45

708.90

84.50

447.70

2,620.10

551.25

325.00

945.30

207.80

210.05

191.85

181.95

8,219.40

1,330.75

1,047.70

1,235.00

1,015.50

265.40

926.65

1,674.50

106.05

315.90

1,776.30

1,239.50

268.90

3,689.05

1,830.70

847.15

1,287.90

463.85

2,419.10

286.55

640.10

0.00

21,047.90

541.25

533.10

100.00

171.75

3,217.45

540.10

1,172.45

282.60

434.85

1,805.20

1.83

1.72

0.44

-0.79

-0.55

-0.96

0.40

-0.35

2.94

-0.23

-2.17

3.39

-0.14

5.24

-2.39

2.05

0.94

-0.08

-0.34

-1.28

1.99

-0.40

-0.09

0.41

2.89

-0.61

-0.24

0.80

-0.16

-0.70

-1.25

0.47

-1.25

-0.43

-1.51

0.32

-1.60

0.64

0.00

0.28

-0.36

-1.80

2.41

1.30

-0.73

1.49

-0.50

1.09

-0.55

0.32

SENSEX

Company Name Lt Price % Chg

WORLD INDICESIndices Lt Price Change

GCC INDICESIndices Lt Price Change

Dow Jones Indus. AvgS&P 500 Index

Nasdaq Composite IndexS&P/Tsx Composite Index

Mexico Bolsa IndexBrazil Bovespa Stock Idx

Ftse 100 IndexCac 40 Index

Dax IndexIbex 35 Tr

Nikkei 225Japan Topix

Hang Seng IndexAll Ordinaries Indx

Nzx All IndexBse Sensex 30 Index

Nse S&P Cnx Nifty IndexStraits Times Index

Karachi All Share IndexJakarta Composite Index

23,532.84

2,581.82

6,741.16

15,987.18

48,266.84

73,364.16

7,560.54

5,508.18

13,470.07

10,341.30

22,539.12

1,794.08

28,603.61

6,030.32

1,451.30

33,685.56

10,452.50

3,382.31

29,359.17

6,039.54

+16.58

+1.97

+26.22

-27.81

-67.61

-459.58

+5.22

-2.32

+29.14

-116.50

+119.04

+7.37

+84.97

+28.17

-2.92

+112.34

+28.70

+1.81

+305.78

+8.43

Doha Securities MarketSaudi Tadawul

Kuwait Stocks ExchangeBahrain Stock Exchage

Oman Stock MarketAbudhabi Stock MarketDubai Financial Market

8,146.23

6,956.51

6,548.42

1,282.85

5,040.19

4,465.15

3,622.24

-24.97

+8.02

+18.34

+3.77

-8.59

-20.01

-12.48

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

10,933,800

1,667,200

12,898,400

20,535,000

2,480,400

5,879,200

2,012,200

6,787,600

5,815,200

11,843,400

728,900

1,882,100

2,457,600

1,793,700

5,363,900

9,565,400

3,715,000

4,146,900

12,432,100

63,134,500

6,940,000

1,155,100

450,000

2,050,000

510,900

2,458,300

716,800

2,447,600

2,107,800

14,555,300

2,077,500

3,942,200

6,254,400

4,182,600

668,400

2,439,900

2,339,700

2,339,800

1,131,200

1,163,300

9,737,900

5,337,000

2,190,100

3,412,200

1,461,400

2,605,800

1,745,400

1,085,400

-

7,112,400

8,849,400

1,990,300

21,338,200

864,800

1,324,400

6,806,900

1,047,600

2,328,000

12,862,000

6,931,700

120,349,100

22,366,300

3,459,500

5,744,000

4,097,700

1,619,000

4,316,200

7,370,800

1,321,000

348,200

1,159,900

2,358,300

1,092,300

1,708,200

191,500

5,642,700

2,789,100

1,600,800

5,088,400

3,643,200

1,833,000

2,134,596

13,455,335

860,579

9,369,506

125,484

1,347,118

3,534,664

26,321,153

8,741,416

351,394

3,889,843

29,290,876

2,919,074

107,634,861

17,201,425

8,588,924

16,946,888

301,254

1,160,005

854,058

1,942,211

4,023,869

6,291,778

1,924,383

2,008,879

35,763,102

14,839,168

1,677,196

714,103

15,649,404

379,946

1,023,034

1,451,585

1,159,599

2,456,040

644,543

4,977,837

1,828,171

-

7,341

202,229,131

3,391,065

30,686,053

20,894,325

189,672

9,938,185

278,212

1,387,541

3,664,573

181,512

Volume

Volume

Page 6: up, unemployment BUSINESS

Super Cryptic Clues

Weekly’s Solutions

Adam

Pooch Cafe

Garfi eld

Bound And Gagged

Sudoku is a puzzle

based on a 9x9 grid.

The grid is also

divided into nine (3x3)

boxes. You are given

a selection of values

and to complete the

puzzle, you must fill

the grid so that every

column, every row and

every 3x3 box contains

the digits 1 to 9 and

none is repeated.

Sudoku

Weekly’s Solutions

BUSINESS/LEISURE

Gulf Times Saturday, November 4, 20176

ACROSS: 1 Take one’s leave 8 Gesture 9 Learner 11 Tumble 13 Freeways 15 Nudge 16 Afghans 18 Despair 19 Ropes 21 Restated 23 Denier 25 Wreathe 26 Abashed 28 Street clothes.

DOWN: 2 Assumed 3 Emu 4 Need 5 Self-regard 6 Erase 7 Vandals 8 Get into a row 10 Rest assured 12 Leeks 14 Management 17 Agree 18 Dissent 20 Prithee 22 Artie 24 Call 27 Act.

ACROSS1. Pages written on American horse (7)5. Not what a loudspeaker does in South

Wales (7)9. Sovereignty, or something less than

sovereignty (5)10. For a long time he has taught painting

(3,6)11. Girl only losing a ring in an unruff led way

(6)12. Many hurried to include it as a feminine

virtue (8)14. A surprise result which made one ill (5)15. My claim to be without fault is incomplete

(9)18. I have pursued old writers, dear (9)20. It’s obvious about one scheme (5)22. Town with a harbour claimed to be an

Egyptian one (4,4)24. Does it need an Asiatic sporting off icial to

improve it? (6)26. Angler will appear if backed by general (9)27. Remove all traces of a language, out-

wardly (5)28. He was wise to include Herbert in ‘4’ (7)29. Works in a casual way with Beatrix and

family (7)

DOWN1. To be guilty of harassment is, in itself, clever (9)2. Coins once minted in, e.g., U.S.A (7)3. One in a suit will perform with Elton, anyhow

(9)4. Willingly, in the very near future (4)5. Are they never seen fore and aft? (10)6. Intends to indicate the resources (5)7. Cattle wandering around one screen, perhaps

(7)8. The odds on the man producing an aerosol (5)13. Descended, I am, in appearance, from citizen

soldiers (10)16. Act as a proxy for the soldiers in attendance (9)17. Stress there were a number seen rioting on the

ship (9)19. An overhead during the hot weather (7)21. Worry about it, Stone (7)22. Gasps for breath, as the smoker does (5)23. Cook for the second eleven (5)25. When it’s cut it’s a bargain (4)

The next big cyberattack could turn America’s lights off BloombergNew York

When a serious cyber-attack against the US begins, at fi rst you’ll

blame the weather, or an acci-dent, or corporate incompetence. It’ll be a power outage that lasts a few hours at most. But things will start to get more unsettling when reports trickle out that the black-out is the work of hackers, most likely connected to the Russian government.

This isn’t science fi ction — it happened in western Ukraine two years ago. That attack, the fi rst known to take out an electri-cal grid, used malicious software known as a Trojan to briefl y black out several hundred thousand people. The hack forced Ukraini-ans to start taking their country’s confl ict with Russia much more seriously, says John Hultquist, director of intelligence analysis at security company FireEye Inc. The power outage, and another that followed in the capital in 2016, “took the front from the east to Kiev,” he says. “You can’t

ignore it when the lights go out.”So far, most Americans and

Europeans haven’t been forced to reckon with the dangers of a large-scale cybersecurity breach, even as such attacks have become routine. Although close to half of the US population had their so-cial security numbers, addresses, and birthdates stolen from cred-it-monitoring company Equifax Inc earlier this year, the usual round of press outrage and con-gressional fi nger-wagging didn’t yield any serious changes. Equi-fax chief executive offi cer Rick Smith resigned and lost his 2017 bonus, but he got a retirement package worth at least $18mn.

But the kind of attack that companies will fi nally take se-riously, something like the one in Ukraine, is coming. Security experts call such a hack cyber-physical, meaning it spills into the real world, causing property damage and perhaps deaths. Ex-perts have already found evi-dence that the hackers respon-sible for Ukraine’s outages have been quietly rolling into the sys-tems that run US energy grids. On October 20, the FBI and De-

partment of Homeland Secu-rity issued an alert warning of a “multistage intrusion campaign” aimed at industrial control sys-tems in critical infrastructure, including in “the energy, water, aviation, nuclear, and manufac-turing sectors.”

Attacks on infrastructure are extremely tough to pull off . Most power grids include a tangle of interconnected systems, some

online, some offl ine, and some decades old. Intelligence analysts say only fi ve countries can hack them: the US, China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. None, as far as we know, have successfully disabled physical assets beyond computers on American soil.

Even so, US companies are woefully unprepared. Industrial control systems have been con-nected to the internet in recent

years, with little thought given to securing them. Many software systems patch security holes dai-ly; at power plants, well-known vulnerabilities may not be fi xed for years, partly because there still isn’t a consensus on whether the manufacturer, installer, or utility operator bears responsi-bility for updating the software, says Marina Krotofi l, a Ukraini-an-born FireEye analyst. “There was no security in the past, be-cause there was no need,” she says. Many critical infrastructure systems, including natural gas pipelines and storage, are almost entirely unregulated in the digital realm.

Russian hackers, meanwhile, continue to innovate. Kroto-fi l says many low- and midlevel hackers have moved on from hi-jacking Windows PCs and are writing malware designed to take over power grids.

“You see so many exploits, because so many people got into this fi eld,” she says.

So far, Ukraine has been Rus-sia’s primary target. The Krem-lin-backed group that caused the blackouts, identifi ed by cyberse-

curity researchers as Sandworm, has also been tied to a large-scale hack that briefl y crippled Ukraine this summer.

The group used a well-known ransomware program, Petya, that normally attacks a target’s com-puter, encrypts the data, then off ers to decrypt it for a ransom. But the hackers came up with a variation, NotPetya, that simply destroyed the data.

“The Russians have crossed lines and, more importantly, done so without punishment”

The hackers spread the virus by targeting the main applica-tion that Ukrainians use to fi le their taxes, and in doing so, they took down the system Ukrainian pharmacies use to keep track of rare prescription drugs and the radiation monitoring system at Chernobyl. Banks, airports, and government offi ces were also af-fected. “It was like nothing we’d ever seen before,” says Krotofi l. “The entire country was para-lysed.”

There’s evidence to suggest the blackouts and NotPetya were just warmups for a hack in the US Sandworm’s code has been found

on computers run by American electrical operators, according to FireEye. And in July security groups reported that another group, believed by US intelli-gence agencies to be Russian, had accessed computers at a dozen US power plants, including Wolf Creek, a nuclear plant in Kansas. Russian hackers haven’t done anything malicious to these sys-tems, but such stories are trou-bling, especially when combined with their meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and their smaller-scale attacks in Europe, such as the disabling of a French television network.

The same thing that’s kept the nuclear peace between the US and Russia has also stopped Russia from launching a cyber-physical attack in America. The US could respond to a Russian strike with its own crippling cy-berattack along the lines of Stux-net, a worm said to have been developed by the US National Security Agency and Israeli in-telligence that sabotaged Iranian nuclear centrifuges starting in 2009. (Iran has been active in the US as well.

An Equifax slide is displayed on a monitor during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on October 25. Although close to half of the US population had their social security numbers, addresses, and birthdates stolen from credit-monitoring company Equifax earlier this year, the usual round of press outrage and congressional finger-wagging didn’t yield any serious changes.

Page 7: up, unemployment BUSINESS
Page 8: up, unemployment BUSINESS

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Saturday, November 4, 20178

Anglo American investors demand clarity as dealmaker chief arrivesCash piles up, share prices still below peak; South Africa weighs on Anglo America; no urgency for a major change

ReutersLondon

Anglo American’s new chairman, who arrived on Wednesday, faces investor calls for clear direction at the miner, long seen as a potential takeover target.The smallest of the world’s four big miners, Anglo is viewed as the most vulnerable to being bought, and incoming chairman Stuart Chambers has a strong record in securing buyers for the companies he leads.The mining majors have accrued cash as commodity markets recover, but their share prices are below all-time highs as investors shy away from a sector known for reckless deals in the past.Anglo is viewed as particularly undervalued because of its focus on South Africa, where unions are restive; mines are old, deep and diff icult to access; and the industry is in dispute with the government over its mining code.Top 20 investors in the company who asked not to be named said Anglo’s CEO Mark Cutifani had sorted out operational issues, but a vision for what happens next in South Africa and elsewhere is needed.“What investors want to see is clarity on exactly what Anglo’s strategy is,” one shareholder, who asked not to be named, said.“The longer-term investment case is that Anglo becomes a takeover target.”Some industry sources, however, say that as Anglo American is no

longer a forced seller since it has recovered from the 2015-16 crash, it could be a buyer if the right assets are available.Selling Anglo has been discussed by industry sources for years — and Chambers comes with good experience.When chairman of ARM, Britain’s most successful technology company, he helped to sell it to Japan’s SoftBank for £24.3bn ($32bn). Before that, he was CEO of Pilkington glass, which was sold to Japan’s Nippon Sheet Glass in June 2006.But any move to sell Anglo would be complicated by its two biggest shareholders: Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, who has built up a nearly 20% stake since March this year, and the Public Investment Corp (PIC), South Africa’s government pension fund, which has just over 13%.Agarwal is chairman of diversified miner Vedanta and he discussed a potential merger between Anglo and Vedanta unit Hindustan Zinc last year, although the idea never gained traction.He has said his stake in Anglo is for his private family fund and he is not seeking a takeover.He declined requests for comment.South Africa’s PIC would like to see a break-up whereby Anglo creates an Africa-focused local company, owned and run by South Africans, and keeps its overseas operations, a source said, asking not to be named.The PIC did not respond to requests for comment.If Agarwal manages to get a 30% stake, he would have to launch a takeover bid, but that too is complicated because of the structure of the specially

designed convertible bond he has used to acquire shares.Bankers and industry sources say they do not know his intentions, but at the very least he is acquiring influence and if Anglo American’s share price rises above £18 ($23.76), up from around £14 now, he’ll be in the money.“Anglo American is providing a sizeable platform for him that could merge with his business at some point,” one banking source said, asking not to be named.Ian Woodley, portfolio manager at Old Mutual Investment Group, which has a small stake in Anglo American, said Agarwal’s interest had encouraged investment.He also said a South African break-up would be beneficial.As the big miners’ cash reserves are rising again and debt levels have shrunk, industry sources say Chambers has ample time to meet Anglo shareholders and listen to their demands.The company’s share price is up by around a fifth this year on top of gains of nearly 300% in 2016 when it led the London Stock Exchange higher — although like other mining majors it is still below levels seen in the boom years around 2008 and then 2011.Some industry sources say a Japanese buyer for a stake is not out of the question.Mitsubishi and Mitsui have minority stakes in Anglo’s Los Bronces copper mine in Chile.For now, the simplest way to keep investors happy and boost the share price is a higher dividend, and Anglo American announced in July it was reinstating its dividend six months early. Chambers has a strong record in securing buyers for the companies he leads.

Page 9: up, unemployment BUSINESS

BUSINESS9Gulf Times

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Gush of cash in stocks is ‘real problem’ for India top fundBloombergMumbai

Investors who poured record amounts into Indian stocks, sending valuations to the highest in Asia, risk being sideswiped by a correction, according to the nation’s largest money manager.“The real problem at this point of time are high valuations and the local exuberance,” said Sankaren Naren, chief investment off icer at ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. “We have had a long period from 2011 without any big drawdown in stocks. It’s tough to convince mutual fund investors that stocks may fall.”India’s equities have set multiple records this year as mutual funds ploughed a record $14.7bn into stocks, more than double the inflow from overseas investors. The flood of local money amid poor

returns from property and gold has helped the $2.2tn market brush off concerns about how last year’s currency ban and a new tax regime were hurting company profits.The S&P BSE Sensex has risen 33% in dollar terms this year, and is vying with South Korea’s benchmark for the top spot among Asia’s major markets. With a one-year forward price to earnings ratio of 22, the market is also the most expensive in the region. The advance has subdued price swings, leaving the measure of expected volatility below its five-year mean for most of this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.“We would like to see bouts of volatility,” Naren, who oversees the equivalent of $43bn in assets, said. “Periodic volatility ensures that investors don’t go out of their risk bucket.”Here are the highlights from his interview with Bloomberg News:

What is your investment strategy?We’re getting constructive on defensive stocks that off er a higher margin of safety and valuations are not high.

We are positive on power stocks as they have not delivered over a 10- year period. We expect an annual 7-8% growth in power demand. Also,

no new power projects will come up till the existing operations exhaust themselves”. The money manager held 2.3% of NTPC at the end of September after adding 4.5mn shares of India’s largest power utility, data compiled by Bloomberg show.“We like banks in the retail and corporate space”. “We are also positive on financial supermarket banks” or lenders that off er a wide suit of products including mutual funds and insurance. “We’re bullish on pharma stocks as Indian healthcare spends as percentage of GDP will go up compared with other parts of world.” Naren said he expects margins to recover. What is your outlook for fund flows?“Local fund flows into stocks will continue as long as real estate and gold don’t yield more than 2%. India is under- invested in equity relative to gold and property”. “The government’s move to dis-incentivise physical assets

has accentuated the push to financial investments”. “Investors who came in 2007 understand the risk but not those who came after 2011. And most mutual fund investors in India have entered after 2011”.When do you expect company earnings to recover? “Investors’ margin of safety today is built on expected earnings growth over the next two years. We expect earnings to recover in the next two years”. “During this recovery period, market returns will be lower than the earnings growth as earnings cycle will peak”. “If the market continues to rally despite low earnings, then we have no answer”.What are the other risks to India stocks rally?“There are two big risks lurking – rising crude oil prices and the dollar strengthening”. “If Brent goes up to $65, it adds $5bn to India’s current-account deficit. We keep a watch on oil prices everyday”.

Asia markets end higher on Fed pick and Apple suppliersAFPHong Kong

Asian shares rose yesterday, as investors tracked Wall Street gains after a new Federal Re-

serve chair was nominated and Apple suppliers benefi ted from the compa-ny’s strong earnings report.

The Dow fi nished at a fresh record after US President Donald Trump chose Jerome Powell to lead the Fed, viewed as a non-controversial choice unlikely to radically change the grad-ual tightening monetary policies that stock markets support.

But optimism over a long-awaited tax cut plan unveiled by Congres-sional Republicans — intended to slash corporate rates and speed economic growth — was tempered by internal dissent and Democrat opposition.

Investors yesterday also awaited the release of a key US jobs report giving non-farm payroll fi gures.

A sharp rebound in employment lev-

els was expected by the market, after September’s numbers were hit by Hur-ricanes Harvey and Irma.

Meanwhile Apple suppliers in Asia rose as the company said profi t had climbed 19% to $10.7bn, and predict-ed bumper sales for its 10th anniver-sary iPhone X. Taiwan’s Largan Pre-cision rose, as did Hong Kong-listed Cowell E Holdings and Sunny Optical Technology.

Apple’s latest smartphone was launched in more than 50 countries and territories yesterday including in many Asian markets, with lengthy overnight queues at stores as chief executive Tim Cook described “very strong” orders.

Hong Kong shares rose 0.3%. Retail fi gures for the city were due out Friday, with a jump in mainland Chinese visi-tors expected to give a healthy reading, Bloomberg reported.

Taiwan rose 0.1%, while South Korea gained 0.3% to a new record high.

But Shanghai was down 0.3%, as Beijing moved to tighten regulations

on foreign acquisitions. Meanwhile, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said soaring sales fuelled a 132% in-crease in net profi t in what it called an “outstanding” quarter.

Alibaba raised revenue expectations as it continues to profi t from the Chi-nese e-commerce boom that it helped to ignite.

Hong Kong-listed Tencent, a fellow giant in the sector, saw shares rise in Hong Kong yesterday.

Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday.

Oil futures continued their rally yes-terday, with Brent and WTI both ap-proaching two-year highs.

Prices have risen on diminished in-ventories as investors detect growing evidence that Opec and other produc-ers will extend a landmark output cut deal, and exports from northern Iraq fall on clashes between the Kurds and Baghdad forces.

Venezuela President Nicolas Madu-ro said on Thursday that his country, seen by many investors on the thresh-

old of default, will try to restructure its debt — much of which is held by China and Russia, and due to be paid off in oil.

Elsewhere Sydney’s index rose 0.5%, approaching a two-year high, as equi-ties were buoyed by healthy returns on mining as commodities metals rallied.

A falling Australian dollar, after fi g-ures showed the weakest quarter for domestic retail sales in seven years, also contributed.

In announcing his pick for the new Fed chief, Trump said former invest-ment banker Powell has the wisdom and intelligence to guide the world’s largest economy.

Analysts say choosing Powell allows Trump to put his own imprimatur on the central bank with a minimum of disruption. “Meet the new boss, most-ly the same as the old boss,” said a note from Barclays.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 closed for public holiday. Hong Kong — Hang Seng closed up 0.3% at 28,603.61 points and Shanghai — Composite fell 0.3% at 3,371.74 points yesterday.

Bull statues are displayed outside the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Hang Seng closed up 0.3% to 28,603.61 points yesterday.

Japan fi rms dive into Asia’s deepeningpool of dollarsBloombergHong Kong

Asia’s growing pool of dol-lar funds is catching the eye of traditionally con-

servative Japanese issuers, who in the past focused on selling debt in the US when they went off shore for funding.

Japanese borrowers have churned out $17.6bn in dollar debt targeted to Asian and Euro-pean buyers – the bulk of which market players say has gone to Asia. That’s a record high, and already more than 60% greater than such sales for all of last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Behind the surge is a recogni-tion of the benefi ts that Japa-nese issuers can get from a rela-tively new investor base closer to home. The rapidly expanding Asian dollar-bond market is be-ing propelled by China, which makes up more than half of both sales and purchases. It’s even drawing Latin American issuers to the region - read more about that here.

“Increasingly this year one of the reasons for Japanese issuers to tap the dollar bond market is to reach out to Asian and Chi-na-based money,” said Akihiro Igarashi, an executive director at Nomura Securities Co’s syndica-tion department in Tokyo. “The region’s abundant liquidity helps them achieve good pricing.”

The strong demand from Asia is helping Japanese pull off issu-ance sizes that were unthinkable

in the past without participation from US investors. The volume of Japanese dollar bonds that are sold under US issuance rules has dropped about 18% so far this year compared with 2016.

Komatsu Finance, for exam-ple, bagged a total of $800mn from Asian and European inves-tors in early September, bigger than the usual size for such a sale in the past, says John Wade, head of debt capital markets for Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho Securities Asia.

The size of the typical Japa-nese bond sale to Asians and Europeans used to be no more than $750mn, but that amount has climbed because “Asia has more dollars than in the past and investors are looking to put that money to work,” said Wade.

Japanese issuers don’t come to the international debt market often due to the deep yen bond market, but like many global borrowers they are now tapping Asian investors more when they need dollar funding, according to Augusto King, head of capital markets group for Asia at MUFG Securities.

For Asian investors, it off ers a diversifi cation play, given Ja-pan’s very diff erent economic status from the rest of the re-gion, as one of the world’s most developed nations.

“They could provide Asia-based investors a diff erent kind of exposure during portfolio construction,” says Roy Kwok, a partner and senior portfolio manager at DeepBlue Global In-vestment in Hong Kong.

Sensex, Nifty close at fresh record high; rupee strengthensAgenciesMumbai

Benchmarks Sensex and Nifty crossed new milestones yesterday, riding on positive services industry

activity data and more capital infl ows.Services sector activity in India ex-

panded for the second consecutive month in October, driven up by rising new orders — the fastest pace since June — amid positive demand conditions, ac-cording to a monthly Purchasing Manag-ers’ Index survey.

Global leads turned for the better after appointment of Federal Reserve Gover-nor Jerome Powell as the new chief of the US central bank and the unveiling of tax reforms by House Republicans in Wash-ington. Earnings optimism among inves-tors grew, too.

The 30-share BSE index fi rmed up to an all-time intra-day high of 33,733.71 points on a fl urry of buying before clos-ing at a record 33,685.56, up 112.34 points, or 0.33%. The previous closing record was 33,600.27 hit on November 1. On Thursday, the barometer had fallen 27.05 points.

The 50-share Nifty touched a fresh high of 10,461.70 during the day and settled up 28.70 points, or 0.28%, at 10,452.50, a new peak, surpassing its previous record of 10,440.50 on Novem-ber 1. For the second straight week, the Sensex rose, notching up a signifi cant gain of 528.34 points, or 1.59%. The Nifty was up 129.45 points, or 1.25%, during the week.

Interest rate-sensitive fi nancial and realty stocks stood out. Punjab National Bank rose 5.07% after the state- owned lender reported a modest rise in quarterly net profi t.

Largest public lender SBI was the leader of the Sensex gainers’ pack, rising 3.19% to close at Rs325, followed by Tata Motors 2.78%. L&T, Axis Bank, ONGC and Cipla too chipped in. PowerGrid, Sun Pharma, Coal India, Hero MotoCorp and Lupin, however, ended in the red.

According to provisional data released by the stock exchanges, foreign portfo-lio investors bought shares worth a net Rs1,032.88 crore, while domestic insti-tutional investors sold shares to the tune of Rs456.51 crore on Thursday.

BSE capital goods index hit a home run, up 1.09%, followed by banking, PSU and realty. While the small-cap index added 0.49%, mid-cap dropped 0.07%.

Asian shares logged a mixed trend and Europe had a positive opening. Japanese fi nancial markets were closed for a public holiday.

Meanwhile the rupee closed at fresh

six-week high against the US dollar ahead of the US jobs data. The home currency closed at 64.55 against the dol-lar, up 0.1% from its Thursday’s close of 64.61. The rupee opened at 64.58 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 64.53 and 64.64, respectively.

The 30-share Sensex rose 0.33%, or 112.34 points, to 33,685.56. So far this year, the Sensex has gained 26.19%.

The 10-year bond yield closed at 6.867% compared to its previous close of 6.861%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

So far this year, the rupee has gained

5.13%, while foreign institutional inves-tors have bought $5.96bn and $22.77bn in equity and debt, respectively.

Asian currencies were trading lower. China renminbi was down 0.28%, China off shore 0.26%, Singapore dollar 0.20%, Malaysian ringgit 0.14%, Thai baht 0.11%, Japanese yen 0.05%. However, Philippines peso was up 0.44%, Indo-nesian rupiah 0.4%, South Korean won 0.05%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 94.784, up 0.11% from its previous close of 94.685.

Bystanders watch share prices displayed on a digital broadcast on the facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange building in Mumbai. The Sensex closed up 112.34 points to 33,685.56, while the Nifty 50 rose 0.28% to 10,452.50 points yesterday.

Page 10: up, unemployment BUSINESS

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Saturday, November 4, 201710

Russia on track to become world’s biggest wheat exporterReutersMoscow

Russian grain is fl owing around the world in a way not seen since the last years of the Tsarist em-

pire a century ago but the country’s export expansion looks set to hit a wall because of a lack of infrastructure.

While Russia has increased its ca-pacity to export grain nine-fold over the last 15 years even that impressive increase will not be enough to keep pace with its 2017-18 grain harvest which is expected to be a record 133mn tonnes.

Out of that crop, 44.5mn tonnes are earmarked for export, up from 37.7mn a year earlier, according to SovEcon consultancy.

Analysts and offi cials say that’s about as much as the country’s infra-structure can cope with for now.

“If it was not the issue of infra-structure we would be able to ship over 50-55mn tonnes,” said Andrey Sizov, managing director of SovEcon, one of leading agriculture consultancies in Moscow.

Still, 45mn tonnes of wheat, maize, barley and other grains is already a marked improvement since Russia re-sumed grain exports in earnest in the early years of the 21st century.

In 2000-01, for example, Russia only exported about 1.3mn tonnes of grain, according to USDA data. The surge in Russian exports has contrib-uted to a global grain glut.

The world’s wheat market is set for a fi fth surplus in a row in 2017-18 with stocks climbing to a record 268mn tonnes, according to US Department of Agriculture data.

World wheat prices, meanwhile, have steadily declined. The Chicago Board of Trade’s wheat futures con-tract hit $9.16 a bushel in November 2012. It is now trading at $4.21 and fell below $4 in September last year for the fi rst time since 2006.

Russia is also set to overtake the United States as the world’s biggest wheat exporter this year — regaining the top spot it last held before World War One — and cement its leading po-sition over other major wheat export-ers such as the European Union, Cana-da, Australia and Ukraine.

In a search for new markets for its grain, Russia has been building up ex-ports to Asia countries such as Bang-ladesh and Indonesia, muscling in on markets traditionally supplied by Australia. Russia has also boosted

grain exports to Morocco and several other markets traditionally supplied by France, taking advantage of a poor French crop last year.

But fears Russia’s exports will keep on rising look overdone, at least for the

coming few years, given the practical constraints preventing it shipping even more of its rapidly increasing grain stocks, farmers and analysts said.

“There will be tough situation with port and transport infrastructure ca-pacity this year, especially in the fi rst half of the season,” said Dmitry Rylko, head of the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) consultancy.

In the Soviet era, the country was mainly an importer of grain for domes-tic consumption and to supply its large dairy and meat industries — and much of the grain arrived at ports in what are now independent Baltic states.

But the collapse of the communist state devastated Russia’s dairy and meat industries in the 1990s and freed up surplus grain that started to be ex-ported after the turn of the century.

“In 2002, when we were only start-ing to export grain, the transhipment capacity in Russia was 5mn tonnes per year,” said agriculture minister Alexander Tkachev. “It is currently at 45mn tonnes, excluding the capac-ity which is currently being built or planned,” he said.

To boost its capacity to ship grain af-

ter losing access to Baltic ports, Russia embarked on projects to build new ter-minals in the Black, Caspian and Azov seas and modernise grain terminals such as the Novorossiysk Grain Plant.

While more projects to boost Rus-sia’s export capacity are being built or discussed none is set to be completed before 2020, meaning the country is more likely to add to its grain stocks than fl ood the global market.

Forecasts for Russia’s 2017-18 grain crop have been steadily upgraded in re-cent months but offi cials and analysts have left export estimates largely un-changed at about 45mn.

Arkady Zlochevsky, head of Grain Union, a non-state farmers’ lobby group, said it would be good for Russia to export 55mn tonnes this season but it will only ship 45mn.

Besides infrastructure constraints at home, Russia’s ability to export grain has also been hampered by the confl ict in Ukraine.

It was common practice before Moscow annexed the Crimean penin-sula in 2014 for Russian traders to use Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, which can ship 52mn tonnes of grain.

S&P seen rekindling hybrid bond market with planned rule changes

BloombergLondon

S&P Global Ratings’ plans to

revise its treatment of hybrid

notes may revive a wilted cor-

ner of the bond market.

ING Group NV and BNP Pari-

bas SA both said the potential

changes may encourage more

companies to issue hybrids,

which combine elements of

debt and equity, because bor-

rowers will no longer face an as-

sessment penalty for refinanc-

ing the securities early. Under

the proposals outlined this

week, S&P will stop automati-

cally treating all of a company’s

hybrids less favourably if any

are repurchased within five

years of issue.

“For once, the signalling

eff ect of S&P listening to the

market is very positive,” said

Jeroen van den Broek, ING’s

Amsterdam-based head of debt

strategy and research. “S&P has

long been seen as the one party

in this particular market that

hasn’t encouraged issuance

due to its constantly changing

methodologies.”

The planned change, coupled

with record-low borrowing

costs, may boost single-curren-

cy corporate hybrid sales to at

least €15bn ($17bn) next year,

the highest since 2015, ING’s

van den Broek said. Hybrids can

appeal to issuers because rat-

ings companies treat part of the

bond as equity rather than debt,

which reduces assessments of

borrower’s indebtedness.

S&P’s current policies erode

this benefit because the rating

provider generally cuts the

equity weighting on all of a

company’s existing and future

hybrids if any are refinanced

within five years of sale.

Moody’s Investors Service

doesn’t place time restrictions

on the redemption of corporate

hybrids as long as the notes are

replaced with similar securities,

according to Carlos Winzer at

the ratings company.

Globally, the average borrow-

ing cost for hybrid bonds, on a

yield-to-worst basis, has fallen

to a record-low 2.4%, down from

3.4% a year ago, according to

ICE BofAML index data.

S&P roiled the hybrid market

in 2015 by scrapping the equity

weighting assigned to about

$23bn of securities. Borrowers

including Dong Energy, Vatten-

fall and Alliander subsequently

waived some redemption rights

to regain the equity credit.

The sudden rule change and

the hurdles in refinancing have

contributed to a slump in hybrid

issuance. The notes are also

more expensive for borrowers

than senior bonds. Single-

currency hybrid sales this

year total about €8bn versus

a full-year record of €28bn in

2015, based on data compiled

by Bloomberg.

“Issuers have realised these

are quite limiting instruments

when it comes to refinanc-

ing,” said James Sparrow, a

credit analyst at BNP Paribas in

London. “It’s weighed on their

appetite to issue.”

Under new Fed chief, Wall St can expect steady wins on regulationBloombergWashington

In Jerome Powell, banks won’t get a Federal Reserve chairman who is hell-bent on ripping up fi nancial

rules. But in some ways, that’s better for Wall Street.

With a resume steeped in industry experience and long-standing rela-tionships with fi nancial executives, Powell is expected to take a measured approach to rolling back regulations adopted in the wake of the 2008 eco-nomic crisis. He’s seen as a practical, not ideological, watchdog who will be able to get things done.

That gibes with what big banks have long expected from President Donald Trump’s presidency. They want the Fed and other agencies to take the lead in easing post-crisis constraints, particu-larly because the Republican-control-led Congress has made little headway dismantling the Dodd-Frank Act.

“For Wall Street, Powell is a solid choice,” said Ian Katz, an analyst with Capital Alpha Partners in Washington. “He supports deregulation but not to an extreme. He’s a known quantity and he’s regarded as a thoughtful consen-sus-seeker.

The fi nance industry views him as safer choice than someone who would want to blow up the place and scrap all the Dodd-Frank rules.”

While Powell’s views on bank over-sight are important, they will take a back seat to his duties steering the US economy. He is likely to support the Fed governor responsible for bank over-sight, Randal Quarles, an old friend with a similar outlook.

Since joining the Fed board in 2012, Powell, 64, has backed a number of new regulations, even as he sometimes questioned their potential impact on lending and other bank activities. A central theme in his speeches has been that the government should “protect

these core reforms,” while making ad-justments rather than major changes. He reiterated those views after Trump nominated him Thursday.

“Our fi nancial system is without doubt far stronger and more resilient than it was before the crisis,” Powell said from the White House Rose Gar-den. “Our banks have much higher capital and liquidity, are more aware of the risks they run, and are better able to manage those risks.”

Powell’s comfort with bank rules prompted some conservative aides in the Trump administration to oppose his candidacy, according to people with knowledge of the matter. In recent weeks, a few GOP lawmakers had also

raised concerns to White House of-fi cials about Powell’s commitment to deregulation, said people familiar with the overtures.

But megabanks, including Goldman Sachs Group, made clear they would support Powell’s selection, according to people familiar with their thinking.

In some ways, Wall Street sees Pow-ell as the best of both worlds: he will continue Janet Yellen’s low-interest rate monetary policy, while going fur-ther than she would in watering down burdens such as the Volcker Rule and bank stress tests. Big banks have al-ready spent billions of dollars to com-ply with Dodd-Frank, so they prefer regulators who will tweak regulations

instead of killing them. On Thursday, before Powell was offi cially nominated, Goldman chief executive offi cer Lloyd Blankfein said he was “not one bit dis-appointed” in the pick. Blankfein, in an interview with Bloomberg Television, added that Powell has a “terrifi c back-ground.”

If confi rmed by the Senate, Powell would be able to exert as much infl uence over rules as he wants, though chairmen often delegate bank oversight. When Ben Bernanke and then Yellen led the Fed, they allowed former governor Dan-iel Tarullo to set the agenda.

Powell, a former investment banker and executive at private-equity fi rm the Carlyle Group LP, is likely to do

the same with Quarles, who the Sen-ate confi rmed earlier this month as Fed vice chairman of supervision. The two worked together at the Treasury De-partment in the 1990s, and each had stints at Carlyle. They’re seen as rea-sonable and careful – not the kind of turbulent offi cials the administration has put in other key roles.

The two men’s willingness to recast bank rules broadly corresponds with the Trump administration goal of cut-ting back government red tape. And the Fed has already begun dialling back some of the major demands it placed on Wall Street after the crisis.

For instance, the yearly stress tests meant to assess whether banks can en-dure sustained economic slumps are getting easier to stomach.

Another annual Dodd-Frank re-quirement, that lenders submit “living wills” outlining how they could be dis-mantled in a failure, is moving toward a less-frequent schedule. And the Fed has become increasingly clear in its view that regulations for smaller banks should be cut back.

Additional targets for Powell and Quarles, 60, might include softening Fed scrutiny of bank directors, revising a key rule on leverage to free up fi rms’ capital and relaxing Volcker Rule re-strictions on lenders making specula-tive bets with their own money.

Powell has said Volcker was “im-plemented in a way that’s too costly” and goes beyond what Dodd-Frank called for.

On another issue, overhauling the mortgage-fi nance market, Powell has said that more could be done by the government to promote competition for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In a July speech, Powell said that the Fan-nie-Freddie duopoly was akin to having only two banks that off ered federal de-posit insurance. The Fed has no direct role in overseeing the companies, but it does own about $1.8tn of securities tied to home loans.

Powell: A practical watchdog who will be able to get things done.

European equity rally fuelled as CEOs are most upbeat in yearsBloombergMoscow

European stock investors riding the region’s

economic and profit momentum are betting

the 2017 rally has further to run.

Company chiefs and money managers alike

are shifting their focus from the perils posed

by a stronger euro to the tailwinds from the

economic rebound. Even as European equities

trade near a 2015 high, investors have been

increasing exposure this year on bets the

region’s growth will ignite earnings. Analysts

haven’t been this optimistic about the outlook

for European profits in the coming year since

2011.

Even with sentiment that upbeat, JPMorgan

Chase & Co finds next year’s consensus esti-

mates of 8.5% earnings growth conservative

and projects double-digit increases. Lenders

from UBS Group to Swedbank are among

European companies expecting the economic

recovery to strengthen, boosting profits.

Orange said in October the French mobile

market is improving “in a very significant

way.” Europe’s biggest chemical maker, BASF,

expects stepped-up economic activity to drive

higher second-half earnings.

“The tone we’re hearing from company

management is much, much stronger than

it has been for a number of years,” Marcus

Morris-Eyton, a London-based fund manager

at Allianz Global Investors, whose team man-

ages €17.5bn ($20.4bn), said by phone. “Europe

is clearly riding the wave of cyclical recovery.”

Analysts’ 12-month outlook for European

equities’ earnings has been rising since mid-

2016 and is now the highest since September

2011. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index is up 9.4%

this year, compared with a 15% increase in the

S&P 500.

About 66% of the region’s companies have

reported third-quarter results so far, with 55%

of Stoxx 600 members beating expectations.

Sectors with positive surprises include oil

and gas, telecommunications, financials and

technology. It’s the first year since at least 2010

that euro-area earnings haven’t been down-

graded, according to JPMorgan.

In contrast, sales have seen a small miss,

with 54% of the companies reporting a

negative revenue surprise. However, investors

should be less concerned by this, given the

positive broader sentiment, according to Brian

Jacobsen of Wells Fargo Funds Management.

After years of weakness that boosted the

region’s exporters amid unprecedented mon-

etary stimulus, the euro is 2017’s top performer

among G-10 currencies. While some investors

have been spooked by the potential harm this

could hold for exporters, it’s the improving

political backdrop and “strong” cyclical data

that’s bolstering the euro, and that’s good for

stocks, said Allianz’s Morris-Eyton.

“Considering the broader economic senti-

ment is positive, I can understand why stocks

would be rising even with lacklustre revenue

growth,” Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at

Wells Fargo Funds Management in Wisconsin,

said by e-mail. “Strong growth can overcome a

strong currency any day.”

Credit Suisse Group was among the lat-

est major companies this week to laud the

positive trading conditions. “We expect global

economic growth to remain strong overall in

the fourth quarter, which could be a significant

tailwind for our activities,” the bank said as it

reported earnings Thursday.

Still, Max Kettner of Commerzbank, cau-

tions against forgetting about the risks from

a stronger euro and sees room for earnings

disappointment in the future if the currency

continues to rise.

“From current levels, we definitely do need

to see some depreciation from the euro,

otherwise the reporting seasons in 2018 have

the potential to be quite dismal,” Kettner, a

London-based cross-asset strategist at Com-

merzbank, said by e-mail.

EM index edges higherReutersLondon

Emerging stocks were on track for a solid weekly rise yesterday, though

currency markets were jittery ahead of US jobs data with in-fl ation fears rattling Turkey’s lira.

MSCI’s emerging market index edged higher on the day and looked to add 1.6% over the week thanks to solid gains in Asia, where bourses traded within sight of their recent decade highs and Seoul stocks closed at a fresh record high.

The daily gains came after investors guardedly welcomed plans for a massive US tax cut and took some comfort from President Donald Trump tap-ping Fed governor Jerome Powell to become head of the US central bank, signalling a continuation of Janet Yellen’s cautious monetary policies.

“(Emerging stocks) are real-ly being driven by G7 equities and that in turn is being driven by the tax cut expectations from the US,” said Simon Qui-

jano-Evans, emerging markets strategist at Legal & General Investment Management.

However, losses in Chinese mainland stocks tempered gains, with Shanghai on track to post the worst week since August on heightened worries over an economic slowdown.

Despite the dollar treading water, currencies suff ered as gains in key US employment data due later in the day could seal the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in December.

Turkey’s lira racked up some of the biggest losses after data showed infl ation spiked by more than expected with annual price increases hitting a nine-year high of 11.9%, adding to the central bank’s quandary.

The lira weakened 0.8% against the dollar, fl irting again with the 10-month low hit last week, and on track for a 1% fall since Monday in its eighth straight week of losses.

Spreads of Turkish local government benchmark debt over US Treasuries rose to their widest since 2011.

Page 11: up, unemployment BUSINESS

BUSINESS11Gulf Times

Saturday, November 4, 2017

SocGen net income falls 15% to €932mn in third quarter

Societe Generale missed third-quarter income forecasts yester-

day and raised reserves for litigation costs by €300mn ($350mn),

knocking the French bank’s shares.

Investors are concerned that pending legal disputes, for which

SocGen has set aside €2.2bn, could hurt its dividend payouts. The

bank said it should resolve two legal disputes with US authorities

within the coming months.

The French bank, which is seeking to reassure the market

before its medium-term strategy presentation on November 28,

reported a 15% fall in third-quarter net income to €932mn, below

analysts’ estimates of €1bn, according to a Reuters poll.

“De facto, we are capable of preserving a good level of dividend,

regardless of litigation,” the bank’s chief executive Frederic

Oudea told journalists on a call.

Oudea added that its target for the investor day was to present a

plan that would deliver a level of profitability that covers the cost

of capital.

Like other European banks, the quarterly result was weighed

down by a slump in fixed income and equities trading.

The bank said it was in talks with US authorities over two inves-

tigations, the first concerning the Libyan Investment Authority

(LIA) and the other over interest rate benchmarks.

In May, SocGen reached an 11th-hour settlement over LIA al-

legations that trades were secured as part of a “fraudulent and

corrupt scheme” involving the payment of $58.5mn by SocGen to

a Panamanian-registered company.

Duke Energy

Utility company Duke Energy Corp yesterday trimmed its full-year

earnings forecast after reporting a drop in third- quarter profit

as its electricity business took a hit from disruptions caused by

Hurricane Irma. Duke, which delivers power to about 7.4mn US

customers, said operating revenue in its electric utilities and

infrastructure unit fell 3.3% to $6.13bn in the quarter. Irma hit

southwestern Florida on September 10 as a Category 4 hurricane,

leaving millions of Americans without power.

The company has about 1.8mn customers in the state.

Duke Energy, which had previously forecast 2017 adjusted earn-

ings of $4.50 to $4.70 per share, shaved the upper end by 10

cents yesterday. Total operating revenue slipped 1.5% to $6.48bn.

Net income attributable to Duke Energy fell to $954mn, or $1.36

per share, in the quarter ended September 30 from $1.18bn, or

$1.44 per share, a year earlier.

IRPC

Thai oil refiner IRPC’s net profit more than doubled in the third

quarter as the subsidiary of energy giant PTT Group benefited

from rising oil prices and higher margins on its chemical prod-

ucts.

Temporary shutdowns at US refineries after hurricanes on the

East Cost and regional maintenance shutdowns also pushed

product prices higher, the company said in a statement.

Its net profit surged 149% in July-September from a year earlier

to 3.25bn baht ($98mn), beating a forecast of 2.56bn baht in a

Reuters survey of four analysts and helped by 1.1bn baht in gains

on its oil stocks as oil prices improved. Net sales surged 26% to

52.3bn baht and average product prices increased 4%, while its

average profit margin was 5.73%, up from 2.86% a year ago.

Market gross refining margins (GRM), or the diff erence between

the price of crude oil and the value of products was at $15.05

per barrel, up $2.55 from the same period last year on better

petroleum and petrochemical product spreads. IRPC booked a

total market GRM of 9.3bn baht, up from 7.1bn baht a year earlier.

It said it expects oil prices to be in the range of $52-$58 per barrel

in the next quarter.

MOL

Hungarian oil and gas group MOL reported a 29% annual drop in

quarterly net profit yesterday because of a weaker than expected

performance by its downstream business.

Although its third-quarter result missed expectations, central

Europe’s leading fuel retailer maintained its full-year 2017 EBITDA

(earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation)

guidance of $2.3bn.

MOL operates refineries in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia and has

exploration and production assets in the North Sea and countries

including Pakistan, Iraq, and Russia.

It also said a special dividend may be considered as a separate

part of the annual dividend proposal process in early 2018, “pro-

vided all the necessary conditions exist.” It did not provide further

detail. Third-quarter net profit fell 29% year on year to 47.7bn

forints ($178.7mn)— down from 88.8bn forints in the second

quarter — and well below analysts’ forecast for 78.1bn in survey of

business website Portfolio.hu.

However, Chairman and Chief Executive Zsolt Hernadi said that

the trend was more positive over the year as a whole.

Repsol

Spanish oil major Repsol posted close to a 90% jump in third-

quarter adjusted net profit after higher oil prices boosted its pro-

duction division while its refining arm remained highly profitable.

Repsol’s performance echoed that of European competitors Shell,

Total and BP, which all reported stronger quarterly profit on the

back of the recovery in crude prices.

Average recurring net profit adjusted for one-off gains and inven-

tory eff ects (CCS net profit) came in at €576mn ($671mn) in the

July-September period, compared with a €553mn consensus in a

Reuters poll of analysts.

Third-quarter production reached 695,000 barrels per day (bpd),

versus 671,000 bpd in the same period of 2016 while the refining

margin was $7 a barrel, up from $5.10 a year ago. Net debt fell to

€6.97bn at September 30, from €7.48bn three months earlier, and

is on track for the year-end target of less than €7bn.

Erste Group Bank

Austrian lender Erste Group Bank said yesterday it was on

track to meet its targets for this year and raise its dividend after

third-quarter net profit met market expectations, helped by an

economic recovery in its core markets. Net profit in the three

months through September rose to €363.0mn ($423.4mn) from

€337.4mn in the same period last year, roughly in line with an

average estimate of €359mn in a Reuters poll.

“We are...solidly positioned to meet our targets for 2017 — a return

on tangible equity (ROTE) of more than 10% and a higher divi-

dend — and hence match market expectations,” chief executive

Andreas Treichl said. “This has been possible last but not least

due a continuing very strong economic environment in central

and eastern Europe,” he said of the region across which the bank

operates, adding that risk costs were at “a historically low level”.

Erste’s ROTE was well ahead of target in the third quarter at 13.2%,

bringing the level for the first nine months of the year to 11.9%.

Its non-performing loans ratio fell to 4.3% in the third quarter

from 4.7% in the second.

AIG

American International Group posted a bigger-than-expected

quarterly loss on Thursday as the insurer booked huge catas-

trophe losses, and said it had set aside $836mn to meet losses

related to prior-year accident claims.

Hefty losses from claims occurring in prior years have been an

ongoing issue for AIG, and its shares were down 2.3% at $63.51 in

extended trading after it reported third-quarter results.

The New York-based company is one of the largest US commer-

cial insurers.

In February, AIG also posted a bigger-than-expected fourth-quar-

ter loss, largely due to a $5.6bn reserve charge to cover possible

future claims related to long-term risks on US commercial insur-

ance policies it had already written.

AIG agreed in January to pay about $10bn to a unit of Warren

Buff ett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc to take on the bulk of the risk

associated with those policies.

The Berkshire deal followed a $3.6bn increase to reserves chalked

up by AIG in the last quarter of 2015.

Chief Executive Off icer Brian Duperreault, widely hailed in the

industry as a turnaround expert, took charge of AIG in May.

He replaced Peter Hancock, who said in March that he would

step down after the insurer’s financial performance frustrated

shareholders and the insurer’s board of directors.

Pandora

Pandora Media on Thursday missed Wall Street’s revenue

estimates for the third quarter and the forecast for the current

quarter as the online music streaming service provider struggles

to bring more advertisements to its platform.

Shares of the company, which faces stiff competition from Apple’s

Apple Music, Alphabet’s Google Play Music and Sweden’s Spotify,

plunged nearly 11% to $6.6 after-market trading.

Pandora forecast current-quarter revenue between $365mn and

$380mn, below the analysts’ estimate of $412.9mn, according to

Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

“One consistent theme I’ve heard from advertisers is that we

don’t have all of the features they need to easily transact with us

and drive their campaigns,” Chief Executive Roger Lynch said in a

post-earnings call.

“This is starting to have a material impact on our revenue.”

The company said advertising revenue rose nearly 1% to

$275.7mn in the quarter, taking a hit from shutdown of its Aus-

tralia and New Zealand operations.

Advertisement revenue, which accounted for about 73% of total

revenue, missed analysts’ average estimate of $289.3mn, accord-

ing to financial data and analytics firm FactSet. The company, in

which SiriusXM Holdings Inc invested $480 mn and now has a

15.9% stake, has never reported a profit on an annual basis.

Total revenue rose 7.6% to $378.6mn in the quarter ended Sep-

tember 30. Pandora’s net loss available to common stockholders

increased to $84.6mn, or 34 cents per share, in the quarter, from

$61.5mn, or 27 cents per share, a year earlier.

CBS

CBS Corp, owner of the most-watched US TV network, on Thurs-

day reported revenue that missed Wall Street estimates largely

due to lower ad sales, sending shares down to a 13-month low in

extended trading.

The company’s shares were down 1.6% at $53.61 in after-hours

trading. CBS, like its peers, is looking to diversify its revenue away

from advertising as more advertisers shift spending to online

from television.

The New York-based broadcaster, home to such popular shows as

“The Big Bang Theory” and “Homeland,” reported a profit of $1.11

per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of $1.07.

However, Wall Street seized on the company’s revenue results of

$3.17bn, which missed the analysts’ estimate of $3.26bn, accord-

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

“CBS makes money through subscriptions and advertising and

both of these are at risk,” said Brett Harriss, an analyst at Gabelli

& Co, a Rye, New York-based firm that is the second largest share-

holder of controlling shares of CBS.”But CBS is the best positioned

because they own their own streaming service that can act as a

hedge.” CBS said on Thursday that it receives more revenue per

subscriber from digital platforms than traditional ones.

Air France-KLM

Air France-KLM said improving price trends helped it report bet-

ter than expected third quarter profits, joining major European

peers in benefiting from strong summer demand. The Franco-

Dutch company reported third quarter operating profit up 38.7%

to €1.022bn ($1.2bn), against the average analyst expectation of

€953mn in a Reuters poll.

Unit revenues — a closely watched measure of how much income

is generates per unit of capacity — increased 4.1% in the quarter

and Air France-KLM said it expected an increase in the fourth

quarter as well, driven by long-haul bookings.

“Unit revenues in October were positive, forward bookings for

November and December are ahead of last year,” finance chief

Frederic Gagey said.

Lufthansa last week said unit revenues rose 4.5% in the third

quarter, outpacing British Airways-parent IAG, which saw a 2.2%

rise as it added capacity from Aer Lingus and low cost unit Level

to transatlantic routes.

Air France-KLM has also been benefiting from a return of US

and Asian passengers to Europe this year after attacks deterred

travellers last year.

The group also said yesterday it would be introducing an 11 euros

one-way surcharge on bookings made via third-party GDS sys-

tems, such as Amadeus, Travelport and Sabre from April 1, 2018.

It is following the example of Lufthansa and British Airways as air-

lines use new technology to gain more control over ticket sales.

Air France-KLM said it still wanted to cut unit costs by 1-1.5%

this year, although it now said that target was excluding eff ects

caused by higher load factors and profit sharing.

CORPORATE RESULTS

MiFID II to feed Europe swaps market, says Danske rates chiefBloombergCopenhagen

A fundamental revision of European markets rules will bring with it an ex-

pansion of the euro-swaps mar-ket, according to Danske Bank.

“Transparency leads to a larg-er market place,” Lass Hoejlund, global head of rates at Denmark’s biggest bank, said in an inter-view. “It’s going to be more mar-ket participants and, on aggre-gate, a larger notional risk that is traded.”

A rewrite of the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive goes into force in January. It includes a slew of new reporting require-ments. These will give investors a better picture of what’s behind pricing and lead to increased de-mand, Hoejlund said.

For euro swaps, MiFID II will mean “much more detailed knowledge of which fl ows are creating the pricing,” Hoejlund said.

The publication services to which market participants will have to report “are obliged to give that information for free af-ter 15 minutes so then that infor-mation is open to everybody.”

What will be interesting is not “which bank in particular has done which fl ows,” he said.

“It is what fl ows have been go-ing through in this particular product, in which segments of the curve and at what prices. In that sense, you get a little bit like the equity market: you get a clearer picture of what is pro-ducing the price picture you’re looking at.”

Danske told its customers in April that it would become a so-called systematic internaliser in Nordic and European bonds and swaps, Hoejlund said. The sta-tus means it takes on reporting duties on behalf of its investing clients, guaranteeing MiFID II compliance in the process.

Nordea Bank AB, the Nordic region’s largest lender, said last month it will become an SI in foreign exchange, cash bonds and interest-rate derivatives, joining Deutsche Bank AG and UBS Group AG in registering for SI status in fi xed income.

Banks aren’t required to con-fi rm their status as SI banks un-til September. Hoejlund said big banks interested in keeping their clients happy would be wise to take on the new reporting duties sooner rather than later.

“If you’re a market maker and a large liquidity provider in your market, then your clients would expect you to be an SI in that product,” he said. Otherwise, losing customers “is defi nitely a threat.”

En+ raises $1.5bn in Russia’s biggest IPO in four yearsBloombergMoscow

En+ Group Plc, the power and commodities com-pany controlled by Rus-

sianbnaire Oleg Deripaska, went public by raising $1.5bn in the country’s biggest initial public off ering in four years.

The deal values En+ at $8bn after the IPO, making it one of Russia’s 30 largest public companies.

It priced the global deposi-tary receipts and shares at $14, the lowest end of an expected price range.

The low price of the deal and large stakes taken by the Qatar Investment Authority and Cap-ital World Investors suggests the company had trouble appealing to outside investors, said Oleg Petropavlovskiy, an analyst at BCS Global Markets. Some in-vestors had voiced scepticism to En+ complex ownership struc-ture before the deal.

The company owns a 48% stake in United Co Rusal, the biggest aluminium producer outside China, as well as hydro-power stations in Siberia.

Capital World Investors, part of Capital Group, bid for a stake

worth $100mn, the Kommersant newspaper reported. Both bid-ders didn’t respond to Bloomb-erg requests for comments.

Russian Direct Investment Fund Management Co and oth-er Asian investors considered buying shares, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.

“The IPO price is adequate, but the lowest end of the price range and the fact that

big names like Qatar or Capi-tal Group took large stakes shows that the sale was going through with diffi culties,” Oleg Petropavlovskiy, an analyst at BCS Global Markets, said by phone on Tuesday.

En+ plans to use the money from the IPO to repay some of the $942mn debt owed to VTB Bank.

Conditional trading will start November 3 on the London

Stock Exchange and admission to the offi cial trading list is ex-pected on November 8.

Basic Element, an indus-trial company controlled by Deripaska, granted banks an over-allotment option to pur-chase a maximum of 5mn GDRs. China’s AnAn Group acted as a cornerstone investor, taking $500mn of the IPO.

Glencore Plc has agreed to swap its 8.75% stake in Rusal

for En+ shares after the IPO’s completion.

The off ering comes amid an escalation in tensions between the US and Russia. As part of a federal investigation into wheth-er President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia, US authorities charged former campaign chief Paul Manafort and onetime business partner Rick Gates with money launder-ing and tax evasion.

Although Deripaska’s name appears nowhere in the indict-ment, his past dealings with Manafort came into light ear-lier this year. Some of the dozen shell companies that the indict-ment asserts Manafort used to launder money and conceal work for pro-Russia fi gures in Ukraine also were used for his dealings with Deripaska.

Deripaska hasn’t been ac-cused of wrongdoing, and there are no indications that US au-thorities are seeking to inter-view him as part of the investi-gation into Russian interference in the presidential election.

Bank of America Corp, Citi-group Inc, Credit Suisse Group AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co, SIB Cyprus Ltd and VTB Capital are joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners on the IPO.

Page 12: up, unemployment BUSINESS

BUSINESSSaturday, November 4, 2017

GULF TIMES

Index gains on robust buying in realty and telecom sectorsQSE WEEKLY REVIEW

By Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Robust buying in realty and telecom sectors notwithstanding, the Qatar Stock Exchange managed to gain mere 18 points overall this week.Non-Qatari individuals were bullish as the main barometer rose 0.22% this week which saw the listed companies better their position in net earnings during January-September this year, notwithstanding the economic blockade imposed by some Gulf neighbours.The weakened net selling pressure from domestic funds also helped the market this week which saw

International Monetary Fund view that Qatar’s economy and financial markets are “adjusting to the impact” of the Gulf diplomatic rift after the initial shock.However, there was increased net selling from local retail investors and lower buying interests of foreign institutions this week which saw Standard and Poor’s, a global credit rating agency, say the Gulf-based banks’ capitalisation is expected to remain “stable” over the next two years and their capital quality remains strong.Islamic stocks were seen gaining faster than the main index this week which saw a total of 2,000 sovereign bonds worth QR198.88mn change hands across two transactions.The market was skewed towards

decliners this week which witnessed banking, industrials and real estate counters together account for more than 76% of total trading volume.The banks and financial services sector accounted for 36% of the total volume, industrials (23%), realty (17%), telecom (8%), transport (7%), insurance (6%) and consumer goods (4%) this week.The banks and financial services’ share in total trade turnover was 44%, industrials (16%), transport (11%), real estate (10%), consumer goods (8%), telecom (6%) and insurance (4%) this week.Major gainers included Ezdan, Ooredoo, Qatar Insurance, Qatar National Cement, Qatari Investors Group, Industries Qatar, Aamal Company,

Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, QIIB and Alijarah Holding this week.Nevertheless, QNB, Qatar First Bank, Al Khaliji, Dlala, Islamic Holding Group, Salam International Investment, Woqod, Gulf International Services and Milaha were among the losers this week.Non-Qatari individual investors turned net buyers to the tune of QR10.53mn compared with net sellers of QR3.05mn a week ago.Domestic funds’ net selling weakened considerably to QR33.85mn against QR84.87mn the week ended October 26.Local retail investors’ net profit booking increased to QR33.23mn compared to QR26.69mn the previous week.

Non-Qatari funds’ net buying fell substantially to QR56.55mn against QR114.61mn the week ended October 26.Total trade volume fell 17% to 30.76mn shares and value by 10% to QR687.95mn, while deals rose 12% to 10,995.The market witnessed 44% plunge in the telecom sector’s trade volume to 2.45mn equities and 36% in value to QR44.27mn but on 9% jump in transactions to 1,103.The banks and financial services sector’s trade volume plummeted 39% to 11.12mn stocks and value by 10% to QR305.6mn, while deals grew 16% to 3,999.There was 14% shrinkage in the real estate sector’s trade volume to 5.17mn

shares, 19% in value to QR66.78mn and 2% in transactions to 1,674.However, the transport sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 2.01mn equities and value more than tripled to QR76.92mn on 38% increase in deals to 929.The insurance sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 1.74mn stocks but value shrank 18% to QR27.96mn despite 19% higher transactions to 349.The consumer goods sector reported 54% surge in trade volume to 1.14mn shares, 23% in value to QR56.86mn and 56% in deals to 842.The industrials sector’s trade volume shot up 17% to 7.13mn equities, whereas value declined 35% to QR109.55mn and transactions by 3% to 2,059.

US job growth speeds up, unemployment rate fallsNonfarm payrolls increase by 261,000 in October; unemployment rate falls to 4.1% from 4.2%; average hourly earnings flat; up 2.4% year-on-year

ReutersWashington

US job growth accelerated in October after hurricane-related disruptions in the

prior month, but a sharp retreat in annual wage gains and surge in the number of people dropping out of the work force cast a cloud over the labour market.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 261,000 jobs last month as 106,000 leisure and hospital-ity workers returned to work, the Labour Department said in its closely watched employment report yesterday.

That was the largest gain since July 2016 but below economists’ expectations for an increase of 310,000 jobs.

Data for September was re-vised to show a gain of 18,000 jobs instead of a decline of 33,000 as previously reported.

Some aspects of the report, however, were downbeat.

Average hourly earnings slipped by one cent, leaving them unchanged in percentage terms, in part because of the return of the lower-paid industry workers.

That lowered the year-on-year increase to 2.4%, which was the smallest since February 2016.

Wages shot up 0.5% in Sep-tember, lifting the annual increase in that month to 2.9%. Still, Oc-tober’s job growth acceleration reinforced the Federal Reserve’s assessment on Wednesday that “the labour market has continued to strengthen,” and probably does little to change expectations it will raise interest rates in Decem-ber. The US central bank has lifted rates twice this year.

“The weakness in wages will not go unnoticed at the Fed, particu-larly for members that remained

more concerned over the infl ation outlook,” said Michael Hanson, chief US economist at TD Secu-rities in New York.”Overall, sus-tained job growth and labour mar-ket slack at pre-crisis lows keeps December in play.”

Although the unemployment rate fell to near a 17-year low of 4.1%, it was because the labour force dropped by 765,000 after a surprise jump of 575,000 in Sep-tember.

The labour force participation rate, or the proportion of work-ing-age Americans who have a job or are looking for one, fell four-tenths of a percentage point to 62.7%. Prices of US Treasuries rose after the data.

The dollar gained against a basket of currencies and stocks

on Wall Street were largely fl at.The sharp moderation in job

growth in September was blamed on hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which devastated parts of Texas and Florida in late August and early September and left workers, mostly in lower-paying indus-tries such as leisure and hospital-ity, temporarily unemployed.

Economists, however, remain optimistic that wage growth will accelerate with the labour mar-ket near full employment.

Last month’s one-tenth per-centage point drop in the unem-ployment rate took it to its lowest reading since December 2000.

The jobless rate is now be-low the Fed’s median forecast for 2017. A broader measure of unemployment, which includes

people who want to work but have given up searching and those working part-time be-cause they cannot fi nd full-time employment, dropped to 7.9% last month, the lowest level since December 2006, from 8.3% in September.

Tepid wage growth supports the view that infl ation will con-tinue to undershoot the Fed’s 2% target and could raise concerns about consumer spending, which appears to have been largely sup-ported by savings this year.

The economy grew at a 3.0% annualized rate in the third quar-ter.

Growth has remained strong even as President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Con-gress have struggled to enact

their economic programme.Republicans in the US House

of Representatives on Thursday unveiled a bill that proposed slashing the corporate tax rate to 20% from 35%, cutting tax rates on individuals and families and ending certain tax breaks.

The plan has been met with opposition from small busi-nesses, realtors and home-builders.

A separate report from the Commerce Department yester-day showed the US trade defi -cit increased 1.7% to $43.5bn in September as rising exports were off set by a surge in imports.

Exports, which were the high-est since December 2014, are be-ing buoyed by a weakening dollar and strong global growth.

Carmakers plan 400 Europe car charging stations by 2020To open 20 stations to the public this year; to expand to 100 stations in 2018

ReutersFrankfurt

A group of mainly German car makers will open ultra-fast electric vehicle charging stations this year and plans a

pan-European network of 400 by 2020, hop-ing to narrow Tesla’s lead.

News about the initiative, fi rst fl agged a year ago, had been long anticipated as govern-ments push for improvements in infrastruc-ture that would encourage drivers to switch to electric cars.

IONITY, a joint venture of BMW, Daimler, Ford Motor and Volkswagen with its Audi and Porsche brands, plans to open 20 stations to the public this year in Germany, Norway and Austria.

They will be 120km (75 miles) apart and run in partnership with Tank & Rast, Circle K and OMV.

“The fi rst pan-European HPC network plays an essential role in establishing a market for electric vehicles,” IONITY’s CEO Michael Hajesch said yesterday.

He added that the fast-charging stations would also off er digital-payment capability.

IONITY is still in talks with charging sta-tion suppliers and a decision is expected soon, a spokeswoman said, declining to say how

much the joint venture would invest. Install-ing thousands of High-Power Charging (HPC) stations across the globe will require billions of dollars in investment and off er an opportu-nity to manufacturers.

The car consortium’s new fast chargers will cost about €200,000 ($233,000) each, sourc-es said previously.

Companies ranging from engineering con-glomerates such as Siemens to small special-ists like ChargePoint are all hoping for a slice of the pie.

IONITY will expand its network to 100 sta-tions in 2018, each one enabling several driv-ers of diff erent car brands to charge their vehi-cles at the same time.

Anxiety over whether battery-powered cars have the range to reach their destination is in-hibiting some drivers from switching from petrol or diesel models.

But with US all-electric challenger Tesla stealing a lead, established brands are teaming up to ensure that electric vehicles (EVs) can get quickly back on the road.

Each charging point will have a capacity of 350kw, and will use an existing European standard, the Combined Charging System, to reduce charging times compared to existing systems.

A half-hour charge will give a Tesla driver about 270km in extra driving range — rough-ly half the time it would take to get a similar boost at a 50kw charge point that is now the industry standard.

Job seekers speak with a recruiter during a career fair in San Jose, California. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 261,000 jobs last month as 106,000 leisure and hospitality workers returned to work, the Labour Department said in its closely watched employment report yesterday.

Twitter blamesdeactivated Trump accounton employeeBloomberg

New York

US President Donald Trump’s personal Twitter account went

down abruptly for about 11 minutes on Thursday evening, a brief deactivation the social media company blamed on an employee who was heading out the door.

Attempts to call up Trump’s personal page, @realDonaldTrump, turned up a message saying, “Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!”, prompting many Twitter us-ers to send out screenshots. Within minutes, the account was once again available. The official feed for the US president, @POTUS, wasn’t affected.

“Through our investiga-tion we have learned that this was done by a Twitter cus-tomer support employee who did this on the employee’s last day. We are conducting a full internal review,” the company tweeted, after cit-ing inadvertent “human er-ror” in an earlier post.

Twitter has mistakenly fro-zen accounts in the past. In 2016, chief executive offi cer Jack Dorsey was locked out of his own for a few minutes. Dorsey said in a tweet that the suspension was “an internal mistake.”

Users can also deactivate their own accounts. Once someone chooses to do so, Twitter retains that data for 30 days, after which it begins the process of deleting the in-formation. An account can be reactivated during that period simply by logging in.

“My Twitter account was taken down for 11 minutes by a rogue employee,” Trump

tweeted early yesterday. “I guess the word must fi nally be getting out — and having an impact.”

Twitter has come under fi re from critics who say the com-pany should banish Trump for violating its terms of service. The US president often uses Twitter to disseminate his thinking, sometimes making disparaging remarks. Twit-ter’s rules let the company suspend accounts for violent threats, gender-based attacks and other forms of abuse and harassment.

In June, Trump tweeted remarks aimed at MSN-BC’s “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski: “I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch an-ymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year’s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleed-ing badly from a face-lift. I said no!”

The next month, the US President posted a video in which he’s shown wrestling and punching a person whose head bears the CNN logo. Many said that tweet violat-ed Twitter’s policies against violent threats and targeted abuse.

The fact that Twitter hasn’t closed Trump’s ac-count appears to be “a viola-tion of Twitter’s own rules,” Stephen Balkam, the founder of the Family Online Safety Institute, a nonprofit organi-sation that’s part of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council, said in a recent interview. “If an ordinary citizen tweeted some of what he tweeted, I would think some of them would be taken down.”


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