• June 6, 2018

    Establishing GCC Yield Curve – More Important now than ever!

    A number of GCC corporates have been active in the debt markets, especially in the recent past, as the bank lending had been constrained while the financial environment offered money at attractive lower interest rates. Considering the surge in issuances and the need for development of domestic debt market many have been advocating for the need to establish a domestic sovereign yield curve that shall help the GCC companies to raise funds at a cheaper rate. Presence of sovereign yields...

  • May 6, 2018

    Why GCC Corporates have shunned the Sukuk market

    This article was first published in Islamic Finance news Volume 15 Issue 18 dated the 1st May 2018. The sukuk segment of the Islamic financial industry, witnessed a lot of activity in 2017. There was a global sale of nearly USD 100 bn in sukuk which increased the amount raised by 40% from 2016 as there was sustained growth in the GCC region along with the continuation in non-Islamic markets like U.K and Australia and entry by new markets like Nigeria....

  • February 8, 2017

    Kuwait Price Index up by 19% in Jan 2017

    According to Marmore’s recently released Monthly Market Review, MENA bourses had a positive start to the year 2017, with nearly all markets ending the first month in green. Kuwaiti Price and Weighted indices led the charge, rising by 18.9% and 12.4%, respectively, followed by Bahrain (6.8%). Saudi Arabia and Oman were the only markets to register a fall in January, falling by 1.5% and 0.1%, respectively. Various reasons are being touted for the 14-day consecutive rally in the Kuwait bourses,...