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Paris / Bloomberg Equate Petrochemicals, a joint venture between US-based Dow Chemical and the Kuwaiti government, has commissioned a $70m carbon dioxide plant in Kuwait. The carbon dioxide-recovery facility has a capacity of 280 tonnes a day. The gas will be produced by existing Equate petrochemicals plants. It will filter and purify the carbon dioxide, then liquefy it, making it ...

Bloomberg Crude extended gains after industry data showed U.S. inventories declined, while Iran cautiously supported a proposal by Saudi Arabia and Russia to freeze production at near-record levels. Oil rose as much as 4.3 percent in New York. U.S. crude supplies fell by 3.26 million barrels last week, the industry- funded American Petroleum Institute was said to report Wednesday. However, ...

Beijing / AFP Prada’s annual sales were broadly flat for a second consecutive year in 2015 as the slowdown in China continued to weigh on the high fashion and luxury goods brand. Weak sales in Asia Pacific outside of Japan and in the United States failed to offset an improved picture in Europe, where the weak euro bolstered sales to ...

Tokyo / Bloomberg Japan Airlines Co. expects operating profit of at least 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion) in the financial year that begins in April, according to two people familiar with the situation. The profit forecast compares with 204 billion yen in operating profit expected in the fiscal year that ends in March. The country’s second-largest airline will update its ...

Cape Town / Bloomberg South African Airways (SAA) will cancel a code- sharing agreement with Etihad Airways PJSC as the unprofitable carrier prepares to end direct flights between its home base in Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi, less than a year after introducing the route. SAA and Etihad signed a route-sharing partnership in May 2013 before expanding the alliance with additional ...

Bloomberg Airlines are extending leases on gas- guzzling four-engine planes on a bet that fuel prices will stay low for as long as the next three years, the world’s biggest airplane lessor said on Thursday. “We’re getting a boost we did not think we would get,” AerCap Holdings NV Chief Executive Officer Aengus Kelly said in an interview on Thursday ...

Canberra / Bloomberg It’s tough to overstate the tide of troubles that faced Alan Joyce, the chief executive officer of Qantas Airways Ltd., just two years ago. Losses had ballooned amid a capacity war with Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. and its foreign backers. Australia’s government wouldn’t guarantee Qantas’s debt, which was junk- rated at the time. The airline’s share price ...

ABU DHABI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Emirates Securities Market Index has increased by 1.04% to close at 4210.71 points. Accordingly the Market Capitalization has gained AED7 Billion attaining AED683.03 Billion. A total of 0.84 Billion Shares were traded with a total value of AED0.99 Billion during the trading session of 18-02-2016 through 9380 transactions. The number of companies which has been traded ...

Hong Kong / AFP Asian stocks mostly joined a global rally on Thursday with a surge in oil prices providing some much-needed confidence as key producer Iran praised an output freeze by Saudi Arabia and Russia. Crude, which last week flirted with 13-year lows, extended a surge that began Friday as dealers grow hopeful of an easing to the overproduction ...

New York / AFP Shares of oil companies and miners surged on Wednesday behind higher commodities prices as US stocks notched gains for the third straight session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 257.42 points (1.59 percent) to 16,453.83. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 31.24 (1.65 percent) to 1,926.82, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 98.11 (2.21 percent) at ...