BLOOMBERG Equity markets in the United Arab Emirates extended declines on speculation recent gains were overdone after earnings fell at some of the country’s biggest banks. Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index slipped for a second day, dropping 0.8 percent to 4,506.14 at the close, the lowest level in more than two weeks. First Gulf Bank PJSC, the emirate’s third-largest ...

  ABU DHABI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Emirates Securities Market Index has decreased by -0.99% to close at 4576.75 points. Accordingly the Market Capitalization has lost AED 7.44 billion attaining AED 742.41 billion. A total of 323.55 Million Shares were traded with a total value of AED 430.67 million during the trading session of 01-05-2016 through 4682 transactions. The number of companies ...

  Bloomberg China Construction Bank Corp., the nation’s second-largest lender, reported a 1.4 percent gain in first-quarter profit from a year earlier even as bad loans climbed. Net income rose to 68 billion yuan ($10.5 billion) in the three months ended March 31, the Beijing-based lender said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Nonperforming loans jumped to ...

  Ankara / Reuters Turkey’s central bank will promote the head of its markets division to deputy governor, officials announced, elevating another banker with Islamic finance credentials to its policy-setting committee. Erkan Kilimci is due to be named as one of the bank’s four deputy governors shortly, the officials said, declining to be identified because the information has not yet ...

  Berlin / Reuters Restoring German banks’ financial ties with Iran will take time given debt owed to Berlin and transparency concerns, the head of the German banking association said, dampening expectations before a business summit in Tehran. Iran owes Germany about €500 million ($569 million) under so-called Hermes covers, a German government arrangement that protects German companies if foreign ...

    Madrid / AFP Spain’s state-rescued lender Bankia has posted a 3.3-percent fall in first-quarter net profit due in part to lower interest rates and fierce competition which hurt its margins. The bank reported a net profit of 237 million euros during the first three months of the year, below analysts’ forecasts of 246 million euros, according to a Factset ...

  Bloomberg Italy’s Atlante, the government-orchestrated banking fund, raised € 4.25 billion ($4.9 billion) from 67 domestic and foreign institutions to help the country’s lenders build capital and reduce bad debt. Atlante, which targets a 6 percent annual return from investments, will invest as much as 70 percent of its money in capital increases by Italian banks, Quaestio Capital Management, ...

  Reuters Turkish conglomerates are racing to add high-end apartment blocks and office towers to Istanbul’s rapidly-changing skyline, turning to one of the world’s most profitable real estate markets for quick returns as other parts of the economy suffer. Anadolu Holding, which has interests in banking, retail and brewing, plans to venture into real estate with two developments in Istanbul ...

  Bloomberg Cousins Properties Inc. agreed to buy Parkway Properties Inc. for about $1.95 billion in stock, then spin off the combined company’s Houston office buildings into a separate real estate investment trust. Parkway shareholders will receive 1.63 shares of Cousins stock for each share they hold, the companies said in a statement. The deal values Parkway at $17.46 a ...

  AP U.S. home prices continued their steady upward march in February as buyers competed for a limited number of available properties. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 5.4 percent that month compared with a year earlier, according to a report released on Saturday. That’s down slightly from January’s 5.7% rise. Prices are rising even as sales ...