Benchmark U.S. crude-oil futures rose in electronic trade Tuesday, finding some relief from a softening in the U.S. dollar. During Asian trading hours, crude oil for June delivery  picked up 22 cents, or 0.2%, to $95.39 a barrel. The move slightly pared Monday’s loss of 87 cents, or 0.9%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where the contract settled at $95.17 a barrel, the lowest since May 2. On Tuesday, the dollar dipped against the Japanese yen, and the euro rose ahead of the release of euro-zone economic data. Oil and other dollar-denominated commodities tend to benefit when the dollar weakens, as it makes them less expensive for holders of other currencies. But oil prices suffered Monday as the dollar strengthened, and amid concerns about rising output from key oil producers. Oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose by 250,000 barrels a day in April from a month earlier to 30.5 million barrels per day, according to a Platts survey of OPEC and other oil-industry officials and analysts, released Monday. More»

Gold futures gained in electronic trade Tuesday, with a pullback in the U.S. dollar against key rivals allowing the precious metal to catch a break after three straight sessions of declines. Gold for June delivery  rose $3.40, or 0.3%, to $1,438.10 an ounce during Asian trading hours. Dollar-denominated gold found relief as the greenback fell, weighing on the ICE dollar index  , which measures the U.S. dollar’s moves against six other major currencies. The U.S. dollar stepped back from gains against the Japanese yen, and softened against the euro ahead of the release of economic reports from Europe. Prices for gold and other dollar-denominated commodities tend to rise when the dollar weakens, as it makes them less expensive for holders of other currencies. Gold prices on Monday fell $2.30, or 0.2%, on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange as the dollar strengthened and as investors weighed a report indicating the U.S. Federal Reserve is preparing to bring current monetary stimulus to an end. More»

Orascom Development Holding AG (Orascom Development) (ODHN.CA) will be holding today its annual general meeting to discuss the ratification of its standalone and consolidated financial statements besides its business results for the fiscal year that ended on December 31, 2012. The company will also tackle in its meeting today the board and auditors’ reports. Board members will be discharged from liability for the same FY. Board members will be re-appointed. Orascom Development’s FY/12 consolidated business results revealed a net loss of CHF 101.35 million, compared to net loss of CHF 76.43 million for the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the company’s FY/12 standalone business results showed a net loss of CHF 97.2 million, opposed to a net loss of CHF 69.7 million a for the same period a year ago, representing an increase in the company’s losses of 39.45%. More»

Citadel Capital (CCAAP.CA on the Egyptian Exchange), the leading investment company in Africa and the Middle East with US$ 9.5 billion in investments under control, released today its FY12 Business Review, with a new reporting format that focuses on performance of core platform companies. As the firm transitions its business model to an investment company that will create long-term value for its shareholders, it has shifted to a new reporting methodology that places more emphasis on aggregate financial performance at its eight operational platforms in 5 core industries; energy, transportation, agrifoods, mining and cement which are underpinned by outstanding macroeconomic fundamentals. The new methodology presents a more accurate picture of financial and operational performance. The firm reported that EBITDA from its eight core operational platforms rose to EGP 111.4 million, a sharp improvement from Minus EGP 0.1 million the previous year on the back of fundamental improvements in underlying businesses as well as a sustained emphasis on cost control. Citadel Capital’s principal investments from its own balance sheet increased to US$ 214.7 million in FY12 (US$ 48.2 million in the fourth quarter) to close the year at US$ 1,155.0 million. More»

Benchmark U.S. crude-oil futures held steady Thursday, sticking with the $96 level after a smaller-than-expected increase in U.S. crude supplies helped earlier to push prices to their highest level in more than month. Crude oil for June delivery  was up 1 cent at $96.63 a barrel in electronic trade during Asian trading hours. Prices had briefly risen about 16 cents as China reported consumer prices rose more than expected in April, but the gain was later pared. Oil on Wednesday jumped $1, or 1.1%, to its highest close for a most-active contract since April 2, according to FactSet data, after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude supplies rose 200,000 barrels for the week ended May 3. Analysts polled by Platts had expected a rise of 1.9 million barrels. The gain lifted the total crude-supply level for the week to 395.5 million barrels. The only total that’s anywhere close to that level was logged in late July 1990, at 391.9 million barrels. The EIA data on the government website only stretch back to as far as August 1982. More»

Gold futures eased in electronic trade Thursday, slightly cutting into gains in the previous session that left prices at their highest level in about a month. Gold for June delivery  was at $1,473.20, down 80 cents, or 0.1%, during Asian trading hours. Gold on Wednesday climbed $24.90, or 1.7%, to $1,473.70, the highest settlement for a most-active contract since April 12, according to FactSet data. It found support in part from weakness in the U.S. dollar  against the euro after upbeat German industrial-production data. A softer dollar tends to boost prices for dollar-denominated commodities such as gold. The precious metal also got a boost by strong demand in Asia. GFT Markets technical analyst Fawad Razaqzada on Wednesday cited strength in mainland China’s imports of gold from Hong Kong. Such shipments surged to 223.52 metric tons in March from 97.11 metric tons in February, “as physical buyers rushed to capitalize on ‘cheap’ prices,” he said. More»

Orascom Construction Industries S.A.E. (OCIC.CA), announced on Tuesday that it will start to pay the Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) the agreed initial payments of EGP 2.5 billion within the coming few days.Omar Derwaza - Head of Investor Relations at Orascom Construction Industries – stated that the payments shall start with an initial payment of EGP 2.5 billion which will be paid within the coming few days, EGP 900 million in December 2013, six equal installments of EGP 450 million and two final installments of EGP 500 million in 2017 totaling the agreed to EGP 7.1 billion. On April 30, OCI S.A.E. announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with ETA in which OCI’s Dutch Unit OCI N.V. will pay the authority ten installments during 2013- 2017 totaling EGP 7.1 billion less EGP 182 million in existing tax credits to end a dispute regarding tax claims for the years 2007 to 2010.  During that period, OCI SAE divested its cement business through the sale of a listed subsidiary, Orascom Building Materials Holding (OBMH). The agreed amount is based on the originally disclosed tax claim by the ETA of EGP 4.7 billion including accrued interest and delay fees. OCI N.V. will loan its subsidiary OCI S.A.E., the Egypt listed company, the necessary funds required for the tax settlement through intercompany loans to be coordinated and channeled into the country through the Central Bank of Egypt. The settlement amount was reached following months of challenging negotiations. In conjunction with this agreement, the ETA has determined that there was no tax evasion by the Company and is exonerating management and the Company from any wrongdoing related to the transaction. More»

The U.S. dollar surged against the yen and global equity markets rallied on Friday after the U.S. government reported surprisingly strong jobs growth for April that drove optimism on the economy, driving Wall Street stocks to record highs. U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 165,000 last month and the jobless rate fell to a four-year low of 7.5 percent, the Labor Department said. Hiring was also much stronger than previously thought in the prior two months, all signs of a resilient jobs market. Economists expected payrolls to rise by 145,000 and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 7.6 percent. Leading U.S. and European equity indexes advanced about 1 percent in a rally that has boosted the S&P 500 index more than 5 percentage points from April lows in just 11 sessions. The U.S. benchmark is up more than 13 percent so far this year. More»

Iowa Fertilizer Company LLC (Iowa Fertilizer), a wholly owned subsidiary of Orascom Construction Industries (OCIC.CA), announced on Thursday that it has issued approximately US$ 1.2 billion of bonds to institutional and retail investors in the US tax-exempt market through the Iowa Finance Authority. The bond proceeds will be used to finance the cost to develop and construct a new US$ 1.8 billion greenfield nitrogen-based fertilizer complex in Wever, Iowa, representing the largest investment in Iowa’s history. The facility is the first world-scale nitrogen fertilizer facility to be constructed in the United States in more than 20 years and will produce up to 2.0 million metric tons of urea ammonium nitrate (UAN), urea, ammonia and diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) annually upon completion.  The plant is expected to begin production during Q4 2015.          The bond issuance transaction is rated BB- by both Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and Fitch and represents the largest non-investment grade transaction ever sold in the US tax-exempt market. This successful transaction was well-received in the market with US$ 3.5 billion of orders from more than 75 major institutional investors. Many of the largest fixed income money managers in the world participated in the transaction, including tax-exempt mutual funds, insurance companies and hedge funds. More»

EFG-Hermes Holding SAE (HRHO.CA), Egypt’s largest investment bank, said it will sell assets and cut costs after an agreement to create the largest Arab investment bank with Qatar’s QInvest LLC collapsed because of regulatory delays. The Cairo and Doha-based banks said late yesterday the planned joint venture ended after they reached a 12-month deadline without approval from the Egyptian Financial Services Authority. EFG will sell “non-core” assets and return most of the cash to shareholders as it seeks to cut costs by 35 percent. “It will be hard for QInvest to build an investment banking platform that the EFG deal could have offered,” Jaap Meijer, Dubai-based director of equity research at Arqaam Capital, said yesterday in a telephone interview. “EFG will now try to protect its bottom line, while QInvest will probably focus on its key strength, which is commercial banking.” QInvest, a unit of Qatar Islamic Bank, and EFG-Hermes planned to create a bank with operations in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, as well as southern and southeastern Asia. The joint venture plan included EFG Hermes’ main investment banking, asset management and brokerage businesses, and excluded its private equity and Credit Libanais SAL units. More»