Kuwait Financial Market Update

Global Investment buys 10% of Kuwaiti importer
Global Investment House, Kuwait's largest investment bank, has acquired 10% of National Co. for Consumer Industries, a Kuwaiti importer of consumer products, reported Bloomberg.
Kuwait: Thursday, May 15 - 2008 at 10:13

Kuwait declares 3 days of mourning
All public ministries and offices, banks and businesses in Kuwait will be closed for three days, beginning today, after former emir Sheikh Saad al- Abdullah al-Sabah died yesterday, reported Kuna.Kuwait has declared three days of mourning, starting today, Wednesday, after a former emir died, reported Kuna.
Kuwait: Wednesday, May 14 - 2008 at 14:28

Kuwait Financing and Investment Q1 profit falls 37%
Kuwait Financing and Investment Co, a commercial and personal-financing company, has reported that its first-quarter profit fell 37%. Net income declined to 4 million dinars, ($15m), or 10 fils a share, from 6.3 million dinars, or 15 fils per share, a year earlier. The company did not indicate a reason for the profit loss, reported Bloomberg.
Kuwait: Wednesday, May 14 - 2008 at 09:09

Kuwait proposes Islamic food fund
Kuwait has offered to establish a fund to provide basic foods to poor people in Islamic countries and pledged to donate $100m to kickstart the initative, reported Reuters. The proposed fund would also contribute to programmes to increase agricultural production. Several Arab and Muslim capitals have witnessed protests by people demanding government intervention to ease the impact of rises in the prices of foods.
Kuwait: Wednesday, April 30 - 2008 at 07:50

Bayan to sell 7.85m shares to employees
Bayan Investment Co, a Kuwaiti financial services provider, plans to increase its capital by 2% by selling 7.85 million shares to employees, reported Bloomberg. The company will offer shares at 200 fils apiece, including a premium of 100 fils.
Kuwait: Wednesday, April 23 - 2008 at 14:47

Kuwait SWF invests in US, Europe
Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund invests at least 76% of its assets in the US and Europe, daily Al Jarida reported. The Kuwait Investment Authority bought into Citigroup and Merrill Lynch earlier this year.
Kuwait: Tuesday, April 22 - 2008 at 13:09

Kuwait budget surplus doubles
Kuwait's Ministry of Finance said the country posted a preliminary budget surplus of 11.4 billion dinars ($42.9bn) for the last fiscal year, more than double the previous year, reported Bloomberg. Government revenue was 18.9 billion dinars in the fiscal year ending in March, of which 17.7 billion dinars, or 94%, was from oil sales, the ministry said. Expenditures were 7.5 billion dinars.
Kuwait: Wednesday, April 16 - 2008 at 11:49

Dinar gains 9% after de-peg
The Kuwaiti dinar has gained a cumulative 9.07% since dropping peg to the US dollar, and has let its currency rise its peak to the dollar in 26 years as dollar continued weakness, reported Reuters. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are among Gulf Arab states under pressure to drop their pegs to the dollar, but has remained committed to the currency.
Kuwait: Saturday, April 12 - 2008 at 08:45

Al-Deera Holding to buy Int'l Investment Projects
Al-Deera Holding Co has announced that it will acquire International Investment Projects Co, reported Bloomberg. The two Kuwait-based investment companies approved the take over after holding talks separately over the past few days.
Kuwait: Thursday, April 10 - 2008 at 13:24

Kuwait fund opposes complete transparency
A top Kuwait Investment Authority official said a code of conduct requiring full transparency at state-backed sovereign wealth funds would harm financial market efficiency, reported Reuters. The International Monetary Fund is drafting a voluntary code of conduct for the sector that would establish best practice principles in governance and transparency to help ensure that the funds have economic rather than political motives. But the Kuwait Investment Authority's managing director, Bader Al Saad, said his fund already met most proposed requirements on governance and transparency and an official code of conduct would not help.
Kuwait: Thursday, April 10 - 2008 at 11:03