 | S&P assigns QIB with
´A-´ long-term rating RATINGS agency Standard &
Poor´s, which has rated Qatar
Islamic Bank (QIB) for the first
time, has assigned ´A-´ longterm
and ´A-2´ short-term
counterparty credit ratings to
the bank with a stable outlook
on the long-term.
The ratings...
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| | HSBC raises QNB to ´overweight´, downgrades CBQ |  QATAR National Bank´s (QNB)
lending momentum will remain
positive as preference by the
government will help the regional
lender gain market share in
public sector financing, HSBC
said and upgraded the bank to
´overweight´ from ´neutral.´
The brokerage said it expects
QNB – Qatar´s largest lender by
market value - to increase its
market share to 51 percent in
2013 from 49 percent in 2011.
Lending in the country is
largely driven by the government.
QNB´s talks to refinance $1.85
billion worth of Qatari loans
from European banks, due to
mature in July 2012, can
improve the bank´s credit
growth, HSBC wrote in a note.
"Another catalyst could be the
... | | | Total starts injecting mud
to kill North Sea gas leak |
 FRANCE´S Total started
pumping heavy mud down
its leaking well in the North
Sea on Tuesday to try to
stop an escape of gas that
has lasted nearly eight
weeks and could deprive
Britain of nearly 6 percent
of its supply this
summer.
"The well intervention
operation got underway this
morning with the pumping
of heavy mud into the well
from the main support vessel,"
the oil and gas major
said in a statement.
The work, at the Elgin
platform, 240km off the
coast of Scotland, is expected
to last several days before
engineers can determine
whether the leak has been
stopped, Total said.
The leak is costing the
company around $3 million
a day in relief operations
and lost net... | | | France posts zero growth
in first quarter of 2012 |
 FRANCE´S economy showed
no growth in the first
quarter of 2012, the official
statistics agency INSEE said
on Tuesday.
The agency also revised
downward the growth figure
for the fourth quarter of
2011, to 0.1 percent from
0.2 percent, while maintaining
that the economy grew
by 1.7 percent overall in
2011.
At Barclays Research in
London, analyst Fabrice
Montagne commented that
the figure for the first quarter
was in line with the overall
consensus but slightly
lower than Barclays had
expected.
However the figures
showed that "despite weak
growth, France has not yet
come close to recession."
He said that a credit
squeeze at the end of last
year ... | |
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