London / AFP World stocks mostly fell on Thursday as weak Chinese data reinforced fears over the world’s number two economy, while a spat between Britain’s Tesco and Dutch giant Unilever hit sentiment in Europe. In midday deals, London stocks was down 0.8 percent, Frankfurt declined 1.3 percent, Paris shed 1.4 percent and Amsterdam slid 1.3 percent in value. ...

  Dubai / Reuters Positive third-quarter earnings from affiliates of Saudi Basic Industries supported Saudi Arabia’s stock index in early trade on Thursday but the rest of the Gulf was weak, following global shares lower. Yanbu National Petrochemical (Yansab) climbed 2.0 percent after it reported a third-quarter net profit of 607.6 million riyals ($162.1 million), more than double the year-earlier ...

  Tokyo / AFP Tokyo stocks reversed early gains on Thursday morning as exporters were hit by a rush into the yen after China released worse-than-forecast trade data that fuelled worries about the economic giant. Traders kicked the day off on a bright note as minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September meeting suggested the central bank will hike US interest ...

  DUBAI / Emirates Business As much as 94% of all companies in the UAE are SMEs. Together, they contribute 30% of the country’s GDP, and employ 72% of the country’s working population. The figures come from BLOOVO.COM’s latest research on the beneficial role SMEs play in catalysing economic diversification and employment regionwide. SMEs operate extensively throughout the rest of ...

  ABU DHABI / Emirates Business Etihad Airways has received the Skytrax Certified 5-Star Airline Rating — the most coveted quality standard in the airline industry, further strengthening its position as a leader in innovative guest experience, service and hospitality. The rating follows an exhaustive three month audit of the airline’s global product and service offering by the London-based research ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business EY MENA announces the launch of EY Growth Solutions — a new business model of innovative on-demand solutions, offering companies access to subscription services with inbuilt flexibility, standardization and competitive pricing. Gerard Gallagher, MENA Advisory Leader, EY, says: “Companies in the region are impacted by new taxes like VAT, digital innovations and changing customer demand. ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business In collaboration with Artspace Dubai, The Alfred Basbous Foundation inaugurated on Thursday its fourth exhibition in Dubai. “Figurative to abstraction”, a two part exhibition of selected studies, drawings and works of the late renowned artist will stay on view until November 10, and the second part taking place on November 23, until January of next ...

  Bloomberg Egypt has received a $2 billion deposit from Saudi Arabia, an Egyptian central bank official said, bringing it closer to securing a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. The official, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t yet public yet, didn’t specify when Egypt received the funds. Net foreign reserves rose by $3 ...

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s main state grain buyer SAGO said on Thursday it was seeking to purchase 595,000 tonnes of hard wheat from global suppliers in an international tender. The deadline for submitting offers was 2359 Saudi time (2059 GMT) on Oct. 14, with the wheat due to be shipped between Dec. 1, 2016 and Jan. 30, 2017, it said. ...

  Bloomberg OPEC’s effort to secure cooperation of non-members in a global deal to curb crude output will roll on from Istanbul to Vienna, with Russia on board but growing internal differences over sharing the burden of cuts. Russia is ready to participate in a “technical exchange” to set a road map for oil production levels in the Austrian capital ...