February, 2016

• 15 February

  Polish mortgage scheme could hurt banks

  

  Warsaw / AFP Poland’s controversial bid to convert foreign currency mortgages, mostly in Swiss Francs, into the local zloty currency, could “hurt” the Polish banking sector, a global ratings agency warned on Monday. Moody’s said the move by Poland’s new right-wing government would be “credit negative”, hurting the domestic banking sector’s “ability to lend and absorb future shocks”. “It would ...

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• 15 February

  USA sceptical of Beijing using non-navy boats in S China Sea

  

  Bloomberg China’s increased reliance on non-naval ships to assert its claims in the South China Sea is complicating U.S. efforts to avoid a clash in the disputed waters, according to 7th Fleet commander Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin. While the U.S. and Chinese navies are working more closely under an agreed code for unplanned encounters at sea, the deployment of coast ...

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• 15 February

  HSBC stays in London, snubbing Hong Kong

  

  LONDON / AFP Europe’s largest bank HSBC said it would remain headquartered in Britain, rejecting a move to Hong Kong despite concerns about increased regulation in the UK and a possible split from the EU. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation said London’s many advantages meant it was “ideally positioned” to provide a home base. It made no reference to ...

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• 15 February

  Ukraine to make case for Cabinet rejig as another reformer quits

  

  Bloomberg The political crisis roiling Ukraine’s post- revolution leaders is coming to a head after the International Monetary Fund threatened to cut off aid and another top reformer quit. If efforts to revamp the cabinet fail, the risk is early elections. PM ArseniyYatsenyuk is set to report to parliament this week on government performance, with proposed personnel changes to follow. ...

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• 15 February

  A small German city pushes nation’s auto giants on pollution

  

  Bloomberg A leafy city of 275,000 in Frankfurt’s commuter belt is opening a new front in the German car industry’s battle against pollution. An administrative court in Wiesbaden, known for a historic hot spring and a giant U.S. military base, ordered the regional government to clean up diesel exhaust fumes by September or face a fine. The ruling last month ...

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• 15 February

  Deflation blow hits Romania hard in Jan

  Bloomberg Romania’s first bout of deflation in more than 25 years worsened in January after a new round of tax cuts came into force, but the decline in prices was less than expected. Prices fell 2.1 percent from a year earlier after a 0.9 percent decline in December, the National Statistics Institute said on Monday in an e-mailed statement. The ...

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• 15 February

  Greek farmers end blockade of Athens

  ATHENS / AP Angry Greek farmers clashed with riot police in Athens then paraded their tractors and pick-ups outside parliament on Friday, in their first big protest in the capital against pension reform plans after weeks of road blockades. Officers guarded the entrance to the agricultural ministry and fired tear gas to disperse protesters who hurled tomatoes, eggplants and stones ...

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• 15 February

  Japan’s Nikkei jumps 7 percent, leads world stocks higher

  Tokyo Tokyo stocks soared on Monday as a weaker yen and bargain-hunting drove a rebound from last week’s hammering on global equity markets. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange jumped 7.16 percent, or 1,069.97 points, to 16,022.58, clawing back from a loss of more than 11 percent last week. The broader Topix index of all first-section ...

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• 15 February

  Emirates Securities Market Index up by 0.48 percent

  

  ABU DHABI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Emirates Securities Market Index has increased by 0.48% to close at 4123.51 points. Accordingly the Market Capitalization has gained AED3.18 Billion attaining AED668.89 Billion. A total of 0.53 Billion Shares were traded with a total value of AED495.74 Million during the trading session of 15-02-2016 through 6280 transactions. The number of companies which has been traded ...

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• 15 February

  Aldar profits zoom by 49%

  Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Aldar Properties PJSC (“the Company”), Abu Dhabi’s leading listed property development, investment and management company, on Monday announced net profit of AED 2.6 billion for the financial year ended 31 December 2015, up 13% from AED 2.3 billion in 2014. Net profit for the fourth quarter rose 4% to AED 750 million, from AED 718 ...

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