Most Gulf indexes rise, Dubai benchmark hits record high
The agreements are expected to expand the footprint of American AI and cloud companies in the Middle East. OpenAI last week announced plans to develop a massive new data center in the UAE.
Brent futures dipped on 0.41% Tuesday as investors weighed the impact on supply from Russia-Ukraine peace talks and U.S.-Iran negotiations. O/R
Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI), opens new tab was up 0.07%, supported by a 3.25% rise in public shareholding company National General Insurance Co (NGIN.DU), opens new tab. The benchmark hit an all-time high for the third straight session.
Meanwhile in Abu Dhabi, the benchmark index (.FTFADGI), opens new tab was up 0.33% and Qatar's benchmark stock index (.QSI), opens new tab rose 0.41%, with the country's Islamic Bank Masraf Al Rayan (MARK.QA), opens new tab up 1.99%.
Bucking the trend, Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index (.TASI), opens new tab fell 0.04%, weighed down by a 4.17% drop in telecom company Etihad Atheeb Telecommunication Company (7040.SE), opens new tab.
Water distributor Miahona (2084.SE), opens new tab jumped 4.52% and was among the top gainers on the benchmark.
Among global markets, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab was 0.33% higher, while Wall Street futures traded lower on concerns after Moody's downgrade of the country's credit rating. MKTS/GLOB
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
4 hours ago
- Reuters
Most Gulf markets dip as Trump-Putin talks fell short; Saudi gains
Aug 17 (Reuters) - Most stock markets in the Gulf ended lower on Sunday as high-stakes talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to produce an agreement to resolve the Ukraine conflict. The highly anticipated Alaska summit yielded no agreement to end or pause the war in Ukraine, failing to remove major uncertainties for oil-reliant economies in the Middle East. In Qatar, the index (.QSI), opens new tab fell 0.5%, hit by a 1.2% fall in the Gulf's biggest lender Qatar National Bank ( opens new tab. Leading stock indexes in Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait also ended lower. Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI), opens new tab, however, gained 0.6%, helped by a 0.4% rise in Al Rajhi Bank ( opens new tab and a 5.2% increase in Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Development ( opens new tab. Elsewhere, oil giant Saudi Aramco ( opens new tab added 0.4%. Aramco signed an $11 billion rent and leaseback agreement involving its Jafurah gas processing facilities with a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), part of BlackRock, it said on Thursday. Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30), opens new tab advanced 1.1%, with Commercial International Bank ( opens new tab gaining 1.7%. Egypt registered a record primary surplus of 629 billion Egyptian pounds ($13 billion) in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, equal to 3.6% of the country's gross domestic product, the presidency said in a statement on Saturday. The primary surplus came 80% above that in the 2023-2024 fiscal year. ($1 = 48.2700 Egyptian pounds)
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Notorious Kinahan drug cartel introduces McDonald's-style franchise system to flood the streets of Ireland with cocaine
Ireland's notorious Kinahan drugs cartel has introduced a fast-food-style franchise system in its efforts to continue dominating the cocaine trade. The drugs syndicate has muscled its way back to being the dominant force in the Irish cocaine scene in recent months, reasserting itself as the main supplier to almost all major criminal organisations across the country again. Such is their stranglehold on the trade, that many of the gangs who filled some of the holes left by the mobsters when they fled to Dubai in the mid-2010s to exploit the lack of extradition agreement between the UAE and the EU, are also now back on board. Representatives from narcotics networks in Dublin and beyond are believed to have travelled to Dubai to meet high-ranking members of the Kinahan cartel to arrange future shipments directly from them. Those said to have travelled to the Middle East are a Clondalkin gang known as 'The Family' as well as another group who operate from Cabra, who have long been involved in major drug trafficking operations, according to The Times. It is reported that this power play by the Kinahans will now see them operate like a franchise, flooding cocaine to gangs through the streets of Ireland akin to how fast-food suppliers deliver produce to stores in an attempt to eliminate competition. The move may explain the recent decrease in gangland feuds and murders across Ireland, with the street price of the Class A drug also remaining at a stable level after a sharp increase last year. The Kinahan's new network structure is believed to be a repeat - or is at least similar - to how the cartel up bulked itself up during its original network before a series of global law enforcement operations targeted its leadership. Drugs kingpin Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh, who ran the UK arm of the Kinahan catrel, is one of the major players to be brought down in recent times. He was jailed for 21 years at Ipswich Crown Court in March 2022 after pleading guilty to conspiring to import class A and B drugs and money laundering offences in July 2020. Fearing the same fate, the cartel's leader Christy 'Dapper Don' Kinahan, 68, and his two sons Daniel, 48, and Christopher Jr, 44, have already devised a contingency plan should the gardai attempt to extradite them from their base in Dubai. The Irish government signed two treaties with UAE representatives which allowed them to extradite suspected organised crime accomplices last October - a move which now has the Kinahans on red alert. Security sources also told The Times that 'Dapper Don' now travels with a bodyguard when in public, such is his paranoia about being snared. Author Mark Galeotti, an expert on multi-country crime, told the publication that the cartel's move to seemingly become a drugs conglomerate made sense - for them. The three are said to have already devised a contingency plan should the gardai attempt to extradite them from their base in Dubai He said: 'If you've got all the architecture, the pipeline, the infrastructure in order to move the drugs and you know where the markets are, why would you abandon that? Isn't it better to trade that out to others who are going to be your proxies in effect?' The Kinahan's global clients are said to include Mexican cartels, Hezbollah and Iran's intelligence services. It is believed that the gang have assets worth around $1.5billion hidden in offshore accounts and in hidden international investments. The cartel was previously headed-up by Liam Byrne, who relocated to Dubai when Garda drug teams began closing in. He was arrested in June 2023 while holidaying in Mallorca and was later extradited to the UK. Byrne, a close friend of 'Dapper Don', was convicted of firearms offences by Britain's National Crime Agency and was released on licence in January. In April 2022, the US Department of State placed up to $5million in rewards for information that leads to each of the arrests and prosecution of 'Dapper Don' and his two sons, branding them the heads of a major international drugs cartel.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Reuters
OpenAI staff looking to sell $6 billion in stock to SoftBank, others, source says
Aug 15 (Reuters) - Current and former employees of OpenAI are looking to sell nearly $6 billion worth of the ChatGPT maker's shares to investors including SoftBank Group (9984.T), opens new tab and Thrive Capital, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. The potential deal would value the company at $500 billion, up from $300 billion currently, underscoring both OpenAI's rapid gains in users and revenue, as well as the intense competition among artificial intelligence firms for talent. SoftBank, Thrive and Dragoneer Investment Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment. All three investment firms are existing OpenAI investors. Bloomberg News, which had earlier reported the development, said discussions are in early stages and the size of the sale could change. The secondary share sale investment adds to SoftBank's role in leading OpenAI's $40 billion primary funding round. Bolstered by its flagship product ChatGPT, OpenAI doubled its revenue in the first seven months of the year, reaching an annualized run rate of $12 billion, and is on track to reach $20 billion by the end of the year, Reuters reported earlier in August. Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O), opens new tab OpenAI has about 700 million weekly active users for its ChatGPT products, a surge from about 400 million in February.
