Monthly Archives: February 2011

Al Rajhi Bank, the kingdom’s largest publicly traded lender by market value, dropped 5.2 % and Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world’s largest petrochemicals maker, tumbled to the lowest since October. The measure has lost 11% since Tunisia’s former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country amid protests that spurred similar uprising in nations across the region. Oman’s measure decreased 2.8% as protests erupted in the sultanate.

Oil’s Surge. Libya is the largest holder of crude oil reserves on the African continent. Al Rajhi fell the most since May 25 to 73 rivals and Sabic decreased 3.4 % to 93 rivals, the lowest since Oct 23. Oman’s benchmark MSM 30 index dropped to 6.458,37, the lowest since September, led by Renaissance Service SAOG. The provider of services to the oil and gas industry slumped 6.8% to 1.085 rials, the lowest since Dec 21.

Volatility. The EGX 30 index lost 16% in the week before trading was halted. Dubai’s DFM General Index fell 0.9% after earlier rising as much as 1.9%.  Emaar Properties PJSC, builder of the world’s taller skycraper, dropped to the lowest since February 2010, losing 2.4% to 2.85 dirhams. Abu Dhabi’s General Index climbed 0.6%.  Bahrain’s BB All Share Index advanced 0.3%, while Qatar’s QE Index slipped 0.2%. Israeli bonds gained, with the yield on the benchmark 5% Mimshal Shiklit bond maturing January 2020 declining 4 basic points to 5.06%.

Volvo Cars, the Swedish automaker acquired by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., plans to invest as much as $11 billion worldwide over the next five years to tap rising demand in markets including China.

Premium marques including Volvo, Audi AG and Daimler AG are expanding in China, the world’s biggest automobile market and second largest economy, as rising incomes and economic growth boost spending. The Swedish brand, whose chief executive presented its China strategy this afternoon in Beijing alongside Geely Chairman Li Shufu, is counting on increasing Chinese demand to help double sales to 800.000 vehicles in 10 years.

Volvo, which Ford Motor Co. sold to Zhejiang Geely in August for $1.5 billion, aims to sell 200.000 cars in China by 2015, up from 30.522 in 2010, Jacoby said today. The carmaker is working to increase sales to the central and local governments in China, Jacoby said.

Shanghai will serve as Volvo’s China headquarters and center for product development, design and sourcing. Volvo’s main rivals boosted their China sales last year. Volkswagen AG’s Audi sold 227.938 cars in China, up 43% from 2009. Daimler AG’s Mercedes Benz more than doubled sales to 148.400, while Bayerische Motoren Werke AG sold 168.998 units, an 87% gain.

Properties in distress accounted for almost 26% of all home sales last year, down from 29% in 2009. “While accelerating foresclosure sales will help clear the oversupply of distressed properties and return balance to the market in the long run, in short term a high percentage of foreclosure sales will continue to weigh down home prices,” Saccacio said.

Distressed properties sold at a discount of 27% in 2009 and 22% the previous year, according to RealtyTrac. The discount reflects the sales price of homes in the foreclosure process compared with those not in distress, the company said.

Foreclosure Sale Price. Bank owned properties sold for an average discount of 36% last year, up from 33% in 2009. RealtyTrac said. Such homes accounted for 16% of all U.S sales compared with almost 18% in 2009 and 13% in 2008.

Highest Distressed Sales. Nevada had the highest proportion of distressed sales of any U.S state, with 57% of its residential transactions involving homes seized by banks or at risk of foreclosure. Arizona ranked second at 49%, and California was third at 44%.

Ohio had the highest average price discount for foreclosed homes at almost 43%, followed by Kentucky at 40%. Tennessee, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin all had average distress discounts of at least 35%, RealtyTrac said.

Sina Weibo took advantage of a social media vacuum to become the top micro blogging service in China

Ye Fangzhao, a 25 year old freelance brochure editor for auto compaies, abandoned Twitter a year ago to start using Sina Weibo, China’s homegrown equivalent. Sina Weibo has become China’s leading site for micro bloggin, The Twitter inspired phenomenon focused on extremely short messages. The ensuing social media vacuum left an opening for Sina Weibo, which appeared in August of that year. Weibo is a division of Sina Corp (SINA), which operates China’s third most visited website. Weibo mimics the format of Silicon Valley’s micro blogging pioneer. Weibo users follow and comment on updates from other members and can post photos and videos.

Celebrities are a big part of Weibo’s appeal. ( “Weibo” means “micro blog” but sounds like Mandarin for scarf.) Like other Internet services in hina, Weibo deletes or limits sensitive posts as required by the government. Although the search term for Egypt was restricted, many Weibo posts mentioned the protests, and at least one acount offered a live webcast from Tahrir Square. Weibo users generally have the freedom to speculate ablut stories censored by the mainstream media.