Decline in oil prices weighs on bourses

Shares in Saudi Arabia fell sharply today, responding to lower oil prices and wider emerging market sell-downs over the past week.

The Tadawul ended its first day of trading after the five-day Eid break down 1.8 per cent.

The sell-off came after a 4.5 per cent drop in MSCI’s Emerging Markets Index over the holiday period, motivated by fresh speculation that the US Federal Reserve may raise interest rates on Wednesday.

Stocks were further subdued after oil prices closed last week at one-month lows, as the prospect of resumed shipments from Libya and Nigeria stoked concerns of a global supply glut.

The Qatar Exchange, which also resumed trading today, fared somewhat better, closing up 0.3 per cent, following gains in Ezden Holding and Ooredoo.

Markets in the UAE, which resumed trading on Thursday, were more muted today.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index ended a quieter than average day virtually unchanged, closing up 0.03 per cent at 3,483.32.

Emirates NBD was the pick of the big-name gainers, ending up 1.7 per cent at Dh8.34, offsetting declines by Dubai Investments and DIB.

Abu Dhabi’s headline index ended 0.2 per cent lower at 4,486.28, owing to late falls by FGB and Etisalat. ADCB and ADIB led gains, closing up 1.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.

Eshraq Properties finished the day 1.2 per cent higher at 82 fils, after the developer announced plans to spend up to Dh500 million on the acquisition of residential buildings and hotels offering a “good rental return”.

jeverington@thenational.ae

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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara