Pearl Dubai FZ LLC, a leading real estate developer in the UAE, today announced the achievement of a key construction milestone at Dubai Pearl with one of the Middle East’s largest foundation rafts being installed at Tower 1 of the world-class, fully integrated luxury development in Dubai.

Each of the four towers at Dubai Pearl will have a foundation slab 3.25 metres thick and 3,072 square meters total area. Excavation of the four towers was completed in eight months. Excavation is 8.07 meters in depth from the bottom of the raft to ground level. An elevation of five levels is to be achieved on the main structure by the end of this year. The main construction is being undertaken by the Al Habtoor Leighton Group, which was awarded the construction work at the end of 2008.

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Oil fell more than 3 percent to around $70 a barrel on Monday as a drop in China’s key stock dented optimism about the pace of economic recovery and the U.S. dollar strengthened.

China’s key stock index dived 6.74 percent on Monday to a three-month closing low and recorded its second-biggest monthly loss in 15 years. European equities edged down and U.S. shares opened lower.

The sharp drop in Chinese markets is causing concerns and is inevitably making some investors rethink on the risks to China’s economy and question their assumptions on the country’s growth rate and energy consumption,” said Daniel Liu, a commodities strategist at MG Global Singapore.

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Comprehensive knowledge tool aims to benefit region’s gold supply chain

Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) today announced that it released the Arabic-language edition of the GFMS Gold Survey 2009, the single most comprehensive, independent and authoritative knowledge tool on the global gold industry.

The current edition is the 7th edition of the Gold Survey, which is produced by London-based GFMS Limited and provides a wealth of statistics on the main gold trading, producing and consuming countries, in addition to in-depth analyses of market trends and developments.

DMCC’s initiative aims to make the GFMS Gold Survey available as widely as possible across the Arab Gulf and the greater Middle East, which represent some of the key gold-consuming regions of the world.

Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of DMCC, said: “Over the decades, gold trade has occupied an important historical position in the Gulf region, where Dubai spearheaded and reinforced the growth. Dubai remains the main gateway to a vast region, including the GCC, Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent and East Asia. It is only natural that DMCC took the initiative to publish the Arabic version of the GFMS Gold Survey 2009. We are confident that the report will provide added value to traders and specialists in this field across the Arab world.”

Harendra Kailath, Director, Gold, DMCC, said: “We believe that information contained in GFMS Gold Survey 2009 is invaluable for all stakeholders and decision makers in the gold trade. It is a vital tool to understand market trends and stay up to date with analyses in light of fluctuating economic conditions, and to implement business strategies accordingly. Building upon Dubai’s reputation as the ‘City of Gold,’ DMCC has adopted the task of making this report readily available to all investors in the yellow metal trade.”

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Economy minister praises leadership for positive results through summer

His Excellency Sultan Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy, said the federal government’s continuous efforts to develop the national economic infrastructure and help the emirates’ local economies adapt to global economic changes are yielding tremendous results, even over the traditionally slower summer months.

The minister praised the initiatives undertaken by UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to cultivate a more investment-friendly environment, including the scrapping of capital requirements and creation of a national statistics centre. Moves such as these will preserve the nation’s standing on the global map, he added.

Al Mansouri also singled out the multiple bilateral agreements initiated over the last few months with market leaders from Europe, North Africa, North America and the Middle East. These include the launch of the German Emirati Council for Industry and Commerce, meetings of the UAE Algerian and UAE Jordanian joint economic committees, and the conclusion of strategic agreements with the United Kingdom and Canada.

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Developers invited by NVIDIA and TopCoder to tackle parallel computing with the NVIDIA CUDA architecture

NVIDIA Corporation today announced that it will be working with TopCoder, a competitive software development community, on the CUDA Superhero Challenge, a series of contests for computer programmers who will harness the parallel processing power of the NVIDIA® CUDA™ architecture to solve some of computing’s biggest challenges.

The first contest, which is open to all eligible developers, begins Sept. 14 and will conclude Sept. 25. $5,000 of prizes will be awarded to five contest winners, who will be announced at NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference being held at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, Calif., from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2009. Additional details about the CUDA Superhero Challenge can be found at www.topcoder.com/nvidia.

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Dnata Holidays is celebrating Dnata’s 50 years of service by offering customers some incredible half price deals this Eid Al Fitr. With the chance to save up to 50 per cent at a wide range of hotels and resorts in some of the world’s most luxurious destinations, there’s never been a better time for a great value getaway.

Whether you wish to sample new tastes, sights and sounds in exciting Asia or Africa, marvel at wonders of the world in Egypt and Jordan or simply relax on an idyllic Indian Ocean island, there is a Dnata Holidays Eid Al Fitr offer perfectly tailored for you.

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Foreign investors net DFM sellers by AED 1.58 mln

Dubai Financial Market General Index (DFMGI) inched down 0.41%, or 8 pts to shut at 1914.28, paring its morning losses that exceeded 1%, losing 0.41%, or 8 pts, according Mubasher data. The index hit an intra-day low of 1895.08, breaching the 1900 pts level.

Trading volume went down to 265.2 million shares, compared to 328.5 million shares recorded yesterday. Similarly, trading value fell from AED 692 million to over AED 517.2 million, generated from executing 5679 transactions.

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H.E. Khalil Mohamed Sharif Foulathi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of UAE, announced today that, with effect from Tuesday, 1 September 2009, the interest rate on the liquidity support facilities to banks shall be reduced from 2.5% to 1.5%.

Liquidity support facilities to banks is the mechanism whereby liquidity is injected into the banking system through discounting 1st class securities held by banks.

This measure would basically reduce cost of economic activities in the UAE, particularly investment spending, and would contribute to sustained growth and support the national economy in general.

The UAE Investor Confidence Index was this month’s biggest gainer in the GCC, up 4.3% to 118.8 points, according to August GCC Investor Sentiment Report released in August by Shuaa Capital.

SHUAA Capital, the region’s leading financial services institution, today issued its August GCC Investor Sentiment Report, the only report of its kind for the Gulf markets. The report draws together the submissions from international and regional institutional investors to formulate the SHUAA GCC Investor Confidence Index. The Index has been designed to provide the global investment community with a benchmark of investor confidence for GCC countries and track changes in investor behaviour over time.

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Depa Limited (ticker DEPA) (“DEPA” or “the Company”), the world’s largest interior contractor today reports results for the six months ended 30 June 2009.  

Highlights Financial performance

• Net profit after minority interests up 65% at AED 91.7m (H1 2008: AED 55.6m) driven by significant contract wins and robust financial performance.
• Contract income up 49% at AED 1,107.6m (H1 2008: AED 741.1m) .
• Profit margin increased to 8.3% (H1 2008: 7.5%) after minority interest.
• On target to achieve approximately 30% revenue and profit growth for full year 2009.

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