Kuwait Times - 30/4/2006

Kuwaiti oil went down to $62.74 per barrel on Friday from $63.2 the previous day, a 54 cents drop, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said yesterday.
Prices of Kuwaiti oil have surged above the $50 mark so far this year due to several factors. Among these are high demand in the world oil market, world economic growth, Middle East instability, and tensions in producer-states including Nigeria.

UAE index down

ABU DHABI: United Arab Emirates financial market was down yesterday 124 points in the equivalent of 2.44 per cent and closed at 4969,48 points. Analysts believe that operations in the Abu Dhabi and Dubai financial markets are the cause of this downfall. Volume of stock exchange reached 149 million with 900,000 stocks valued around 1.234 billion dirhams, in addition to the execution of 10,724 financial deals. All sectors fell sharply when the insurance sector posted a loss of 1.49 per cent, the banking sector, 1.68 per cent, the industry sector, 3.1 per cent, and the services sector, 3.1 per cent.

US-Qatari free trade

DOHA: A Qatari official said yesterday his government froze its negotiations with the US on the free trade agreement, but he did not rule out the possibility of resuming them in the future. In an interview published by the Qatari Al-Sharq newspaper, Qatar's Ambassador to Washington Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, said, "there are some matters which must be solved first and we must feel that the other side is serious about it." Al-Khalifa said the articles placed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are appropriate to open the markets in a relatively balanced manner, therefore the US and Qatar being members of the WTO should be enough to continue trade relations during the present period.