Trading volumes at the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) surged to record highs on trading of the Indian rupee.
The Indian currency "dominated currency trading on the exchange", the DGCX said yesterday.
Trading volumes for last year reached 9.6 million contracts, a 137 per cent increase from 2011. The Dubai exchange accounts for 30 per cent of the total exchange-traded value of Indian rupee contracts globally.
The rupee traded at 54.45 to the dollar yesterday. It has strengthened from a low of 55.2 per dollar on January 7 because of increased foreign capital flows into the equity market.
Equities also advanced on Dubai's two main equity bourses yesterday.
DP World, the world's biggest ports operator, climbed 1.7 per cent to close at US$12.97 on the Nasdaq Dubai. The FTSE Nasdaq Dubai UAE 20 Index ticked 0.5 per cent higher to close at 1,986.09 yesterday.
Firms with a secondary listing on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) were the most actively traded by investors. Gulf Finance House, a Bahraini investment bank, gained 0.3 per cent to close at 52 fils a share. Hits Telecom, a Kuwaiti operator, jumped 3.3 per cent to 85 fils a share.
The DFM General Index closed 0.1 per cent higher to 1,735.74. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index advanced 0.8 per cent to 2,766.29.
Elsewhere, Kuwait and Bahrain indexes were little changed at 6,106.91 and 1,072.82 respectively. Oman's MSM 30 Index added 0.1 per cent to 5,851.32. Qatar's QE Index fell 0.5 per cent to 8,639.68. The Saudi Tadawul All-Share Index moved 0.38 per cent lower to 7,087.83.
halsayegh@thenational.ae
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Tips for used car buyers
- Choose cars with GCC specifications
- Get a service history for cars less than five years old
- Don’t go cheap on the inspection
- Check for oil leaks
- Do a Google search on the standard problems for your car model
- Do your due diligence. Get a transfer of ownership done at an official RTA centre
- Check the vehicle’s condition. You don’t want to buy a car that’s a good deal but ends up costing you Dh10,000 in repairs every month
- Validate warranty and service contracts with the relevant agency and and make sure they are valid when ownership is transferred
- If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell
Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com
