Arab Markets

The Saudi finance ministry said on Saturday the kingdom's budget surplus in 2012 hit 386 billion riyals ($102.93 bn) as oil-dominated revenues continued to rise.

Paris Saint Germain have been helped by two summers of colossal investment from their Qatari investors, but it is chiefly thanks to Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic that they top Ligue 1 after Saturday's 1-0 win at Nancy.

All seven stock markets in the energy-rich Gulf states failed to recover four years after the global financial crisis despite high oil prices, a Kuwaiti economic report said on Sunday.

Istithmar World, a subsidiary of the government-owned conglomerate Dubai World, which shook markets across the globe in 2009 with its debt woes, announced on Saturday its acquisition of the remaining stake in the Atlantis hotel on Dubai's glitzy palm-shaped island.

Monterosso led home a Godolphin one-two in the Dubai World Cup over 2000 metres at Meydan racecourse on Saturday when he swept past his stablemate, Capponi, to win the world's richest race.

Monterosso led home a Godolphin one-two in the Dubai World Cup over 2000 metres at Meydan racecourse on Saturday when he swept past his stablemate, Capponi, to win the world's richest race.

Monterosso won the world's most valuable race, the $10 million Dubai World Cup, here on Saturday to give victory to the brainchild behind the race, his owner Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's Godolphin Operation.

The US investment fund Colony Capital has sold its 30 percent stake in the football club Paris Saint-Germain, a company source said Tuesday, making the French Ligue 1 leaders wholly-owned by their Qatari investors.

DUBAI (Reuters) - A potential $2.2 billion debt restructuring for Drydocks World, the shipbuilding arm of indebted Dubai World <DBWLD.UL>, is seen facing tough headwinds with the presence of hedge funds and a lack of government aid seen threatening an amicable deal.

DUBAI (Reuters)- Nearly two years after it was forced to go cap in hand to neighbor Abu Dhabi for a bailout, a chastened Dubai has ringfenced vulnerable assets, forced banks to bolster reserves and deferred debt maturities.

Saudi shares dropped 0.66 percent on Sunday amid slow trading, reducing gains made the previous day, while most other Gulf shares climbed after a turbulent week because of global economic uncertainty.

Stock markets in the oil-rich Gulf region opened up on Sunday after a volatile week trailing the behaviour of global markets hit by uncertainty over European and US economic woes.

Stock markets in the energy-rich Gulf states and Israel dropped on Sunday as the historic US credit downgrading sent jitters across the region, with analysts expecting yet more losses.

Saudi petrochemicals giant SABIC on Sunday announced first half profits of 8.1 billion riyals ($2.16 billion), a 61 percent rise compared to the same period of 2010.

DUBAI (Reuters) - E*Trade Financial Corp has been fined $200,000 by a regulator in the United Arab Emirates for breaching anti-money laundering controls, the local regulator said on Sunday.

The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday the economy of debt-laden Dubai was expected to expand by nearly three percent this year, on the back of robust trade, logistics and tourism sectors.

Kuwait Finance House, the emirate's leading Islamic bank, said Sunday its net profit in the first quarter slumped 26.9 percent on year as the lender made more precautionary provisions.

An emotional Japanese camp finally had something to celebrate about here Saturday when Victoire Pisa claimed top honours in the $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan racecourse - the first Japanese horse to do so.

Despite another unfavourable draw, the Henry Cecil-trained six-year-old, Twice Over, remains the favourite to take this Saturday's Dubai World Cup at the spectacular Meydan racetrack.

Dubai World, which rocked markets across the globe in late 2009 with its debt woes, announced on Wednesday that it has signed a final agreement to restructure $14.7 billion (10.4 billion euros) of debt.