Saudi Arabia's stock exchange drifted back into negative territory yesterday as the price of crude oil retreated after last week's gains, bringing down the curtain on the bourse's worst month in nearly seven years.
Brent crude, which staged a late rally last week to US$50.05 a barrel, retreated on Monday, trading down 1.9 per cent at $49.09 in the late afternoon.
Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index yesterday closed down 2.1 per cent at 7,522.47, erasing Sunday’s gains.
The bourse lost 17.3 per cent of its value during August, its worst month since October 2008.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index opened in negative territory but ended the day in the green, thanks to a flurry of late trades in blue-chip stocks including FGB, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Aldar. The index ended the day up 0.9 per cent at 4,493.93, with Waha Capital (up 3.6 per cent) and FGB (3.2 per cent) among the main gainers. Shares in the capital finished the month 7 per cent lower, their biggest monthly fall since June last year.
Dubai's headline index fell by nearly two per cent in early trading before closing the day down 0.7 per cent at 3,662.56. The Dubai index ended the month 11.6 per cent lower, its worst monthly showing since last December.
jeverington@thenational.ae
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'Young girls thinking of big ideas'
Words come easy for aspiring writer Afra Al Muhairb. The business side of books, on the other hand, is entirely foreign to the 16-year-old Emirati. So, she followed her father’s advice and enroled in the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s summer entrepreneurship course at Abu Dhabi University hoping to pick up a few new skills.
“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”
In the three-week class, pupils are challenged to come up with a business and develop an operational and marketing plan to support their idea. But, the learning goes far beyond sales and branding, said teacher Sonia Elhaj.
“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”
Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.
“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”
rpennington@thenational.ae
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
Results
United States beat UAE by three wickets
United States beat Scotland by 35 runs
UAE v Scotland – no result
United States beat UAE by 98 runs
Scotland beat United States by four wickets
Fixtures
Sunday, 10am, ICC Academy, Dubai - UAE v Scotland
Admission is free
