ABU DHABI/DUBAI, May 8 (Reuters) – For a decade, Dubai has
prospered as the Middle East’s top financial centre, handling
tens of billions of dollars of oil wealth. That dominance may
now be threatened as neighbouring Abu Dhabi demands a piece of
the pie.

Last week, Abu Dhabi outlined plans for a full-service
financial zone on an island near its downtown area that will
have its own administration, court system and tax incentives to
lure banks and other firms from around the world.

DUBAI, May 1 (Reuters) – Trading volumes have doubled in the
past few months, wealthy individual investors from Saudi Arabia
and Kuwait are in town, and lucrative stock tips are again
discussed at dinner tables.

But the bull run in Dubai’s share market may be only just
beginning.

The main stock index has soared 32 percent so far
this year, adding about $15 billion of value and making Dubai
one of the world’s best-performing markets.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Changing trading patterns and pressure to improve profit margins will boost the Gulf’s use of the Chinese yuan in coming years, the head of banking giant HSBC’s (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) China operations said on Monday.

Gulf Arab countries have lagged many other parts of Asia in using the yuan because their oil exports to China are denominated in U.S. dollars and most of their currencies are pegged to the dollar.

DUBAI, March 27 (Reuters) – Four kilometres off the coast of
Dubai, more than 200 tiny, man-made islands bake under the sun.
Built five years ago, they were to be one of the emirate’s most
spectacular projects, an archipelago of resorts and luxury
housing laid out in the shape of a world map.

Apart from a few facilities such as a villa and a beach
club, the islands are empty. After creating them at a cost of
hundreds of millions of dollars, state-owned property firm
Nakheel sold about 70 percent of the land. But most of the
buyers have lacked the cash or the will to go ahead with
development plans.

DUBAI, March 6 (Reuters) – At an OPEC conference in Vienna
in December, the oil minister of the United Arab Emirates was
outspoken – unusually so for a top Gulf Arab official – about
the threat to the cartel from rising U.S. oil and gas
production.

The U.S. shale energy revolution is a “big issue”, Mohammed
bin Dhaen al-Hamli told the meeting of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC, he said, should protect
itself by making its oil more attractive to the world’s
consumers.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Hossein Ahmad, an Iranian who runs a jewelry shop in wealthy Dubai, marvels at the spending power he sees on show during his monthly trips to Tehran, a year after U.S. sanctions largely froze Iran out of the global banking system.

Shops in the Iranian capital are crowded. Finding a seat at good restaurants can be difficult. And the ski resorts in the mountains north of Tehran continue to attract Tehran’s glamorous and well-heeled.

DUBAI, Feb 14 (Reuters) – The Dubai International Financial
Centre, a business zone, says it aims to double the number of
companies there over five years by serving as a base for
business with China, south Asia and Africa, not merely the Gulf.

With political unrest plaguing parts of the Middle East and
Western financial firms still retrenching because of debt
problems in their home markets, the business environment is
challenging for Dubai.

DUBAI, Feb 12 (Reuters) – Bahrain’s economic growth is
expected to pick up sharply this year on the back of a stronger
oil sector, large industrial investments and a robust regional
economy, the government said on Tuesday.

The Economic Development Board predicted gross domestic
product would expand 6.2 percent this year before easing to 3.4
percent in 2014. It estimated GDP grew 3.9 percent in 2012, up
from 1.9 percent in 2011. It

DUBAI (Reuters) – Oman’s government will limit the number of foreign workers and sharply raise the minimum wage for locals in a drive to increase employment of Omani citizens, state news agency ONA reported.

A statement by the Council of Ministers, carried by ONA and seen by Reuters on Thursday, said the government would aim to limit foreign workers to 33 percent of Oman’s total population.

DUBAI/SYDNEY, Feb 6 (Reuters) – If Dubai has its way, the
world’s biggest Islamic bond issues will be designed under its
rules and traded in its market. Muslims around the world will
use Dubai’s standards to prepare food, and take disputes to
Dubai for Islamic arbitration.

As it recovers from a crippling property market crash in
2009-2010, the emirate has set its sights on becoming a global
centre for Islamic business – activity conducted under religious
principles, in areas from banking and insurance to food
production, education, tourism and contract negotiation.