DUBAI / WAM In August, for the first time, the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), traded over three million contracts in one month, surpassing its previous record of 2.38 million contracts set in July. The 3.22 million lots traded and cleared in August were valued at $52.72 billion, also a new record. The exchange recorded its highest-ever daily volume …

Bloomberg With oil trading below Saudi Arabia’s break-even level, energy policy is a top priority for the world’s biggest crude exporter. Following the loss of most of his domestic portfolio, Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih will now have more time to work on balancing the market. Saudi Arabia will split the vast energy, industry and mining portfolio that Al-Falih had run …

Bloomberg Europeans can massively expand low-cost solar generation just by tapping the space over their heads. That’s the conclusion of researchers who used satellite imagery, electricity prices and lending data to assess untapped energy potential of Europe’s buildings. Rooftop area three times the size Luxembourg is available and could economically supply almost a quarter of the bloc’s power, according to …

Bloomberg Zimbabweans are relying on Tesla Inc. to help them pay their bills. Amid power outages of as long as 18 hours a day, Econet Wireless Ltd., Zimbabwe’s biggest mobile-phone operator, is turning to Palo Alto, California-based automaker and storable-energy company for batteries that can keep its base stations running. The country faces chronic shortages of physical cash, so almost …

Bloomberg As the likelihood of Britain crashing out of the European Union (EU) without a trading agreement rises, Citigroup Inc estimates that such an event could cut domestic banks’ earnings by as much as 25 percent. A “no-deal exit” would curtail the revenue of high street lenders as economic growth slows and interest rates remain depressed, analysts including Andrew Coombs …

Bloomberg India announced its most sweeping bank overhaul in decades, minutes before data showed economic growth in Asia’s No. 3 economy slumped to a six-year low. Four new lenders that result from a series of state-bank mergers will hold business worth 55.8 trillion rupees ($781 billion), or about 56 percent of the Indian banking industry, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said …

Bloomberg Facebook Inc’s Libra digital currency will be a focus for antitrust and financial regulators in the near future, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said, confirming an early-stage probe into how the new payment system will work. “From both a competition and a financial stability perspective, Libra will have our interest,” Vestager told reporters in Copenhagen. She said the EU …

Bloomberg Incoming European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde offered a clear sign that she’s ready to follow Mario Draghi’s path and keep monetary policy ultra-loose to lift euro-area inflation. In her first comprehensive comments on monetary policy since winning the job, she said the ECB has the tools to tackle a downturn and must be ready to use them …

Bloomberg The trade war just ratcheted up another notch and the outlook for Chinese manufacturing deteriorated further, signalling the caution that characterised a tumultuous August for global markets may have further to run. The ground is laid for a volatile start to September, exacerbated by the US Labor Day holiday on Monday crimping trading volume with Treasuries and equity markets …

Bloomberg The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index may rise to 8,450 by the end of 2019 with corporate earnings expected to grow faster this year and as government ramps up spending in the second half, according to Philequity Management Inc. The stock gauge will further climb to 9,125 in 2020 when earnings are estimated to increase 11 percent, according to …