Business

BEIJING: China’s economy stumbled in May with industrial output and retail sales growth missing forecasts, adding to expectations that Beijing will need to do more to shore up a shaky post-pandemic recovery. The economic rebound seen earlier this year has lost momentum in the second quarter, prompting China’s central bank to cut some key interest rates this week for the first time in nearly a year, with expectations of more to come.

NEW YORK/SINGAPORE: Oil prices were set to snap a two-week losing streak despite trading marginally lower early on Friday, amid optimism about higher energy demand from top crude importer China and a weaker dollar, according to Reuters. Brent futures dipped 17 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $75.50 a barrel by 6:41 a.m. Saudi time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 16 cents, also 0.2 percent, to $70.46 a barrel. Both benchmarks surged about 3 percent during the prior session.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s M3 money supply has surged 5.59 percent to SR2.63 billion ($700 billion) in the week ending June 8, up from SR2.5 billion on Dec. 31, according to data released by the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA. The M3 money supply — the broadest measure of liquidity in the monetary system — went up 0.83 percent to $2.61 billion in the week ending June 8 compared to the preceding week.  The SAMA data also revealed that the money supply in Saudi Arabia has been stable at SR2.6 billion in the past seven weeks.

RIYADH: A Riyadh start-up has won top prize in a Visa-sponsored competition that seeks to improve digital shopping. Amwal Tech, which was set up last year, came top in the Saudi heat of the Visa Everywhere Initiative, taking a SR150,000 ($40,000) prize for its all-in-one encrypted transaction and identity app that processes payments quickly and safely. Lamaa, a Saudi financial tech firm, was runner-up with prize money of SR100,000, and also won a separate “social impact award” with a SR50,000 prize. Monak, a “digital lifestyle” company, came third and won SR50,000.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index slipped slightly on Thursday as it shed 16.89 points, or 0.15 percent, to close at 11,516.14. The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR9.25 billion ($2.47 billion), as 89 stocks advanced, while 116 retracted. The Kingdom’s parallel equity market, Nomu, continued its spectacular performance for the third consecutive day as it soared 2,048.72 points, or 8.21 percent, to reach 26,977.60. The MSCI Tadawul Index, however, dropped 0.05 percent to close at 1,518.74.

RIYADH: In yet another sign of increasing cooperation between the world’s second-largest economy and the Arab world, the Bank of China is set to open its first branch in Riyadh later in 2023, reported Asharq. It quoted Jun Tian, head of the team for the launch, as saying that the bank’s branch in the Saudi capital is expected to begin operations by the end of October or at the beginning of November.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s National Debt Management Center announced the closure of the riyal-denominated sukuk program issuance for June with the total bid amount received at SR2.5 billion ($667 million).    The total amount allocated was SR7.43 billion with the sukuk issuance divided into tranches — the first has a size of SR622 million maturing in 2030. The second tranche was valued at SR1.84 billion million maturing in 2035, the NDMC said in a statement   Also called an Islamic bond, sukuk is a debt product issued according to Shariah or Islamic laws.