Dubai / Emirates Business Majid Al Futtaim, one of the Middle East’s leading retailers, is spearheading the digital transformation of the region’s $313 billion retail market, both in taking a growing slice of e-commerce and enhancing Carrefour customer shopping experiences online and in-store. The Middle East retail sector is undergoing a sea-change. As more malls open, the GCC’s retail sector …

Bloomberg Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said his country plans to invest a whopping $20 billion in Pakistan as he began a swing through Asia. The two nations signed memorandums of understanding in the energy and agriculture sectors, including one for a $10 billion oil refinery in southwestern city of Gwadar, where China has helped build a deep water port. …

Dubai / WAM Enoc Group signed a joint venture (JV), agreement with Proserv Egypt to set up Enoc Misr, its first on-ground operations in the lubricants sector in Egypt. The agreement marks Enoc Group’s physical presence in Egypt as part of its wider plans to expand internationally into key markets, including Africa. Through this joint venture agreement, Enoc Misr will …

Bloomberg Oil traded near a three-month high in New York as Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec’s) output curbs tightened global supply while trade talks between the US and China lifted financial markets. Futures rose as much as 1.3 percent to the highest since November 20, after advancing 5.4 percent last week. President Donald Trump said talks with China were …

Bloomberg TransCanada Corp. was partly denied a request to continue some pre-construction work on the Keystone XL oil pipeline while a dispute over the project’s environmental review wends its way through the courts. The company won’t be allowed to prepare sites for construction camps, but it will be allowed to prepare pipeline-storage and container yards and receive pipe at those …

Bloomberg The stage has been set for a European natural gas price war that will help boost demand and enable both Russia and the US to increase sales to the region. The battle won’t brutalize earnings too much because gas supply is just so profitable in Europe, where prices are more than double the prevailing level in the US. And …

Bloomberg India is feasting on Venezuelan oil, after the US imposed a de facto ban on crude imports from the Latin American nation. While flows to the US came to a halt, India became the No. 1 buyer of Venezuelan crude in the first half of February, with imports jumping 66 percent to 620,000 barrels a day. Indian refiners Reliance …

Bloomberg Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is wading into the struggling Canadian energy industry, taking a stake in oil-sands producer Suncor Energy Inc. The purchase of 10.8 million shares, disclosed in a filing, was valued at $300.9 million. That marks at least the second time the Omaha-based firm has owned Suncor’s stock; Berkshire previously held a 22.3 million-share stake, which …

Bloomberg Stocks in Europe edged higher after a rally in Asia drove the region’s shares to their highest level since October amid optimism over China’s economy and trade talks. Commodities from oil to copper jumped. The Stoxx Europe 600 edged up following a choppy morning as gains by telecommunications companies offset declines in carmakers, after President Donald Trump received a …

Bloomberg Indian equities declined, skipping a global rally, as investors assessed the nation’s retaliation to a deadly attack on its defense forces last week. Four security personnel and two militants were killed in the Indian army’s military encounter in Kashmir. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.9 percent to 35,498.44 at the 3:30 pm close in Mumbai, capping an eighth …