The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.

  Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of Australia frequently seeks feedback on the health of the economy. It might want to call the debt counselors soon. Homeowners, consumers and property investors around Australia are making more calls to financial helplines as three warning signs back up the spike in demand: mortgage arrears are creeping up, lenders’ bad debt provisions have increased ...

  Bloomberg Tata Steel Ltd. swung to a profit in the third quarter, the first gain in five periods, boosted by a recovery in product prices and higher production. Group net profit was 2.3 billion rupees ($34 million) in the three months to December 31, from a loss of 27.5 billion rupees a year earlier, according to a statement from ...

  Bloomberg Lotte Group said the Chinese government ordered the halt of the conglomerate’s 3 trillion won ($2.6 billion) theme-park project in northeastern China, in the group’s latest setback in a country that’s stepping up economic retaliation against South Korea for pushing ahead with the deployment of a US missile shield. The government order to suspend the development in Shenyang ...

  Bloomberg Running a wholesale grocery shop in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, 43-year-old Khan used to write as many as 40 checks a month to buy goods from sugar to Unilever NV tea bags. That changed when authorities, in a bid to clamp down on widespread tax avoidance, started charging a levy on every bank transaction above ...

  Bloomberg Treasuries rose for a fourth day and gold reached a three-month high as demand for haven assets persisted with investors assessing political risks in Europe and the US American equities slumped. The S&P 500 Index extended a stretch of listlessness as disappointing bank results in Europe added to pressure on financial shares. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes fell ...

  Bloomberg A fresh pull-back in oil prices and waning risk appetite towards equity markets in general may drag Gulf stock markets lower on Wednesday. Brent oil futures lost 1.2 percent on Tuesday and have continued to fall in Asian trade on Wednesday; they were at $54.66 a barrel at 0524 GMT. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ...

  Bloomberg Asian shares rose as Chinese property developers jumped on optimism, offsetting declines in India where the government unexpectedly signaled an end to an easing cycle. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.3 percent as of 5:07 p.m. in Hong Kong, erasing an earlier decline. Country Garden Holdings Co. surged the most in 21 months as analysts at Goldman ...

  Bloomberg Boosted by higher prices and presidential promises of aid, US coal is having a comeback season. Yet a looming quandary remains: Demand continues to shrink. In the boom-bust cycles of old, the fuel’s use grew relentlessly as a fleet of coal-fired power plants fed America’s hunger for electricity. Now, a new age of clean, cheap natural gas and ...

  Bloomberg Brexit has brightened the outlook for UK solar funds, with higher power prices lifting earnings for the industry and burnishing its attraction for investors seeking to insulate themselves from political upheaval. Trading volumes at three London-listed UK solar funds more than doubled in the six months after June’s referendum calling on Britain to exit the European Union, compared ...

  Bloomberg Remittances from Egyptians working abroad are surging and foreigners bought more than $250 million in local assets during the beginning of the week, further signs of growing confidence in the nation’s economy after it floated the currency and secured a $12 billion IMF loan. Expatriate workers sent home $4.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016, up 12 ...