Stock markets in Dubai and Qatar led an advance across most Gulf equities after oil, the region’s main source of income, posted the best week since April.
Dubai’s DFM General Index advanced 1.2 percent, the biggest gain in almost a month, as Qatar’s QE Index added 0.9 percent. Bloomberg’s GCC 200 Index, a measure of the largest and most liquid companies in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, rose to the highest level in three weeks.
European stocks rose, with gains in Munich Re and carmakers helping push Germany’s DAX Index toward a bull market.
The DAX climbed 0.8 percent at 1:25 p.m. in Frankfurt, taking its advance since a February low to 20 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.3 percent. Munich Re climbed 3.9 percent after the reinsurer reported quarterly net income that was more than double the average analyst projection. BMW AG and Volkswagen AG climbed at least 1.3 percent after a report showed China’s retail auto sales surged in July.
President Vladimir Putin agreed to ban Rosneft PJSC, Russia’s acquisitive state oil company, from bidding for the controlling stake in smaller producer Bashneft PJSC that the government plans to auction off as early as next month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Putin rejected appeals from his longtime ally, Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin, to be allowed to bid, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Rosneft, the world’s largest publicly traded producer by output, argued that acquiring Bashneft would increase the value of the Rosneft that the government also plans to sell this year.
The Kremlin’s press service said nobody was available to comment and Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, couldn’t be reached immediately. A spokesman for Rosneft, Mikhail Leontyev, didn’t respond immediately to calls and text messages seeking comment.
The Federal Government is set to borrow $1bn from the international capital market to fund its expansionary budget and stimulate economic growth as inflation, slow growth and other challenges continue to hit the economy.
Consequently, the Debt Management Office is seeking two lead managers and a financial adviser to organise the issuance of $1bn Eurobonds this year.
As Nigeria continues to dither over the Petroleum Industry Bill, which has suffered setbacks in two consecutive legislative tenures, Ghana has passed its own petroleum bill into law in a bid to lure investments.
Ghana’s legislature passed the Petroleum Production and Exploration Bill into law on Thursday to replace the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 1984, our correspondent gathered on Monday.
