B U S I N E S SMONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2017

BERLIN: French automaker PSA haspledged to keep Opel plants in Germanyrunning if a planned merger goes forward,

2019, a newspaper report said yesterday.PSA, the parent company of France’s

it is interested in taking over Opel, theGerman arm of US giant General Motors.

But the plans have sparked fears inGermany that Peugeot will cut jobs thatoverlap with existing positions in France.German newspaper Bild am Sonntagreported that Olivier Bourges, who sitson PSA’s executive committee, had

meeting at Chancellor Angela Merkel’s

would be respected.They stipulate that redundancies in

Germany’s Opel workforce would be

ruled out until the end of 2018 and thatinvestment pledges for four German fac-tories would be kept until at least 2020.

The Bild am Sonntag report did notcite its sources. “Peugeot wants to makesure it doesn’t seem like a hostile

sentative told the newspaper. Bild saidOpel executives expected PSA to set outthe broad terms for a merger in the com-ing week, with the aim of signing thedeal at the latest at the GenevaInternational Motor Show, which startsMarch 9. Founded in 1862 as a sewingmachine maker, Opel, with its lightning-bolt emblem, has long been a familiarsight on German and European roads.

But in recent years, the company hasbooked repeated losses, costing Detroit-based GM around $15 billion (14 billioneuros) since 2000. — AFP

EXCHANGE RATES

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.

ASIAN COUNTRIESJapanese Yen 2.689Indian Rupees 4.571Pakistani Rupees 2.919Srilankan Rupees 2.034Nepali Rupees 2.866Singapore Dollar 216.060Hongkong Dollar 3.946Bangladesh Taka 3.831Philippine Peso 6.132Thai Baht 8.756

GCC COUNTRIESSaudi Riyal 81.694Qatari Riyal 84.142ani Riyal 795.608Bahraini Dinar 813.470UAE Dirham 83.408

ARAB COUNTRIESEgyptian Pound - Cash 20.450Egyptian Pound - Transfer 17.537Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.230Tunisian Dinar 134.810Jordanian Dinar 431.290Lebanese Lira/for 1000 2.041Syrian Lira 2.183Morocco Dirham 30.924

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIESUS Dollar Transfer 306.150

085.723oruESterling Pound 384.680Canadian dollar 234.780Turkish lira 83.310

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

BAHRAIN EXCHANGE COMPANY WLL

Swiss Franc 306.460Australian Dollar 237.110US Dollar Buying 304.950

GOLD20 Gram 252.06010 Gram 128.9505 Gram 65.320

Rate for Transfer Selling Rate058.503ralloD SU

Canadian Dolla 234.865Sterling Pound 382.745

532.623oruE562.603knarF ssiwS

Bahrain Dinar 810.785UAE Dirhams 83.665

588.48slayiR irataQ584.28slayiR iduaS

Jordanian Dinar 432.550Egyptian Pound 18.715Sri Lankan Rupees 2.035Indian Rupees 4.572Pakistani Rupees 2.917Bangladesh Taka 3.854Philippines Pesso 6.129Cyprus pound 167.960Japanese Yen 3.670Syrian Pound 2.425Nepalese Rupees 3.855Malaysian Ringgit 69.490

CURRENCY BUY SELLEurope

British Pound 0.374897 0.384897Czech Korune 0.004085 0.016085Danish Krone 0.039881 0.044881

175923.0175023 .0oruENorwegian Krone 0.032916 0.038116Romanian Leu 0.084861 0.084881

381910.0381900.0aikavolSSwedish Krona 0.030517 0.035517Swiss Franc 0.299347 0.310347Turkish Lira 0.078592 0.088892

AustralasiaAustralian Dollar 0.227082 0.239082New Zealand Dollar 0.214877 0.224377

AmericaCanadian Dollar 0.228652 0.237652Georgina Lari 0.138298 0.138298US Dollars 0.302100 0.306500US Dollars Mint 0.302600 0.306500

AsiaBangladesh Taka 0.003624 0.004208Chinese Yuan 0.043131 0.046631Hong Kong Dollar 0.037394 0.040144Indian Rupee 0.002683 0.004906

Indonesian Rupiah 0.000018 0.000024Japanese Yen 0.002634 0.002814Kenyan Shilling 0.003009 0.003009Korean Won 0.000256 0.000271Malaysian Ringgit 0.064884 0.070884Nepalese Rupee 0.002995 0.003165Pakistan Rupee 0.002611 0.002901Philippine Peso 0.006025 0.006325Sierra Leone 0.000068 0.000074Singapore Dollar 0.210993 0.220993South African Rand 0.017573 0.026073Sri Lankan Rupee 0.001682 0.002262

658900.0676900.0nawiaTThai Baht 0.008398 0.008948

ArabBahraini Dinar 0.805630 0.814130Egyptian Pound 0.013822 0.023075Iranian Riyal 0.000085 0.000086Iraqi Dinar 0.000187 0.000247Jordanian Dinar 0.426213 0.435213Kuwaiti Dinar 1.000000 1.000000Lebanese Pound 0.000148 0.000248Moroccan Dirhams 0.020158 0.044158Nigerian Naira 0.001270 0.001905Omani Riyal 0.789903 0.794583Qatar Riyal 0.083294 0.084744Saudi Riyal 0.080567 0.081867Syrian Pound 0.001299 0.001519Tunisian Dinar 0.130778 0.138778Turkish Lira 0.078592 0.088892UAE Dirhams 0.081943 0.083643Yemeni Riyal 0.000996 0.001076

Chinese Yuan Renminbi 45.030037.9tahB iahT

069.38ariL hsikruT

KAMCO RESEARCH FOR FEBRUARY

The price is lodged in broad trading rangeof $50.70-$55.25 since mid-December. Itis necessary for the price to break either

line for a directional move to take place. Inaddition, the daily and weekly RSI indicators

should go from here. To the upside, a swiftmove above $55.25 is required to increase thechances of reaching the high of year 2015 at$62.60. On the counter side, a close below thesupport line at $50.70 would trigger $49.00 and$47.50.However, the price could continue itssideways move for a while until one of the twolines is cleared.

Technical Analysis: Aims to identify the direc-tion of prices and reveal any indication of possi-ble changes as soon as possible, so it can beused as much as possible in making buying andselling decisions in the most appropriate time in

Trend: The general direction of a market orof the price of an asset.

Resistance: A chart point or range thatcaps an increase in the level of a stock orindex over a period of time.

Support: The price level which, historically,

thought of as the level at which a lot of buyerstend to enter the stock.

Breakout: A signal that prices are begin-ning to trend, either upward or downward.

Bull: An investor who thinks the market, a

Bear: An investor who thinks the market, a

decline. Channel: is two parallel trend lineseither rising or declining.

Consolidation Area: is a sideways move-ment in prices that interrupts or reverse a trend.

Moving Average (MA): The most commonapplications of MAs are to identify the trenddirection and to determine support and resist-ance levels.

MACD (Moving Average Convergence-Divergence): A trend-following momentumindicator that shows the relationship betweentwo moving averages of prices.

Relative Strength Index: A technicalmomentum indicator (ranges from 0 to 100)

that compares the magnitude of recent gains torecent losses in an attempt to determine over-bought and oversold conditions of an asset.

Overbought: A situation in which the priceof a security has risen to such a degree that anoscillator has reached its upper bound. This isgenerally interpreted as a sign that the price ofthe asset is becoming overvalued and mayexperience a pullback.

Oversold: A situation in which the price ofa security has fallen to such a degree that anoscillator has reached its upper bound. This isgenerally interpreted as a sign that the priceof the asset is becoming undervalued andmay represent a buying opportunity forinvestors.

Fibonacci: A term refers to areas of support orresistance and to help identify strategic places fortransactions to be placed, target prices or stop losses.

On Balance Volume (OBV): is a simple run-ning total of up day (added) and down day(subtracted) volume. If OBV is moving with

Divergences between OBV and price indicatesthe price may be due for a reversal.

US crude oil closed at $53.40

KUWAIT: NIC Chairman Hamad Al-Ameeri hasannounced the completion of the collection ofAmericana shares during the Mandatory

launched on January 12, 2017 and ended onFebruary 13, 2017.

The said acquisition went through manyphases after Boursa Kuwait announced thatthe block trade phase of Americana shareswas a complete success, whereby 66.790 per-cent of total issued shares were bought byAdeptio AD Investments from AlKhair Nationalfor Stocks and Real Estate. The sizeable pur-chase deal was signed on October 20, 2016whereby National Investments Company rep-resented both the buyer and the seller duringthat sale execution ceremony which tookplace at Boursa Kuwait.

During the Mandatory Acquisition Phase,which lasted 30 calendar days, the total num-ber of collected Americana shares has reached107,071,177 shares equaling 26.634 percent ofthe issued share capital. This represents 87.293percent of the available target shares amount-ing to 122,657,505 shares. It is worth notingthat 191 individual and institutional share-holders from inside and outside Kuwait have

applications during the collection period.

National Investments Company spared noe�ort in planning and executing all logisticand technical arrangements needed. To thatend, NIC revamped its website allowing it tobe a user-fr iendly platform where al lannouncements and information about thisdeal in both Arabic and English were addedto the website in a timely, apparent, andtransparent manner. The o�er document andall supporting deal documents were alsoincluded on the website to al low allAmericana shareholders easy and immediateaccess to information. NIC has further puttogether a professional well-trained team inorder to properly answer all incoming callsand inquiries.

Capital Markets Authority (CMA), BoursaKuwait and Kuwait Clearing Company had apivotal role in overcoming all challenges relat-ed to the acquisition deal. The collectionprocess began at a somewhat lumbered pace

week, and it reached its peak at the last fewdays of the collection. This is mainly due to the

fact that Americana shareholders andinvestors had a better vision, which lead themto sell their shares. Obviously, Americana’s deal

was the main culprit in the upside positiveperformance of Boursa Kuwait after manyyears of stagnation and low trading volumesin the past.

Adeptio’s Mandatory Acquisition on

enormous success. NIC’s unwaveringTeamwork and tenaciousness had a pivotalrole in achieving this. Hamad Al-Ameeri (NIC’sChairman of the Board of Directors) expressedhis sincere appreciation and pride in the exec-utive management of the company and theteam of Americana Mandatory Acquisitiondeal for a job well done, which showcasesNIC’s great experience and professional capa-bilities in managing acquisition deals of thismagnitude.

Hamad Al-Ameeri has also expressed hisgratitude for the Capital Markets Authority asthe CMA played a positive role in guiding NICthrough all stages.

NIC completes collection of Americana shares Americana's minority shareholders agree to sell 107.1 mln shares to Adeptio

KUWAIT: Hamad Al-Ameeri addresses a press conference.

SACRAMENTO, Calif : A mortgage servicescompany signed a $225 million settlement withCalifornia regulators on Friday to settle allega-tions it overcharged active-duty military mem-bers, was late in providing key information forsome civilian borrowers seeking to modify theirloans and violated other laws. Florida-basedOcwen Loan Servicing agreed to pay $20 mil-lion to reimburse borrowers and make $198million in loan modi�cations over three yearsthat will lower costs for thousands of Californiaborrowers.

The settlement with the CaliforniaDepartment of Business Oversight coversJanuary 2012 through mid-2015, when Ocwensays it serviced more than 531,000 Californialoans. Under the terms, Ocwen may begin han-dling new California mortgages.

The settlement “will hold Ocwen account-able for widespread violations of laws thatharmed borrowers in our state,” departmentCo m m i s s i o n e r J a n Ly n n O we n s a i d i n astatement. Telephone and email messagesleft with Ocwen seeking comment were notimmediately returned. Wilbur Ross, PresidentDonald Trump’s choice to head the U.S.Commerce Department, served on the board ofOcwen’s parent company, Ocwen FinancialCorp., in 2013-14. The billionaire investor soldsubprime mortgage specialist Homeward

Residential to Ocwen in 2012 amid investiga-tions into his company’s business practices.

Ocwen previously settled a lawsuit with theUS Consumer Financial Protection Bureau andattorneys general in 49 states, includingCalifornia, over alleged misconduct by Ocwenand by Homeward during the time it was underRoss’s control. The Senate is expected to voteon his nomination during the week of Feb. 27.

Ocwen previously paid about $2 million tomore than 3,100 California borrowers because

of what California regulators said was a practiceof sending time-sensitive letters to borrowersafter the date on the letter.

The tardy letters sometimes made it di�cultfor the borrowers to modify their loans, saidregulators, who also found the companycharged active-duty military personal morethan the 6 percent rate mandated by federallaw. The settlement requires the company tocontact more than 19,000 borrowers and com-pensate them if they were harmed. —AP

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s oil reserves have increasedto 153 billion barrels, from a previous esti-mate of 143 billion barrels, Oil Minister JabalAl-Luaibi said yesterday.

Iraq will ask the Organization of thePetroleum Exporting Countries to adopt the

reserves, he said in a statement. Theincreased estimate is the result of appraisals

in central and southern Iraq, he said. Iraq saysproven oil reserves rise to 153 billion barrels .

Luaibi said that the increase comes from

without naming them. Iraq will remain thefourth largest OPEC member, after Venezuela,Saudi Arabia and Iran. Oil revenues make upnearly 95 percent of Iraq’s budget. Like otheroil-exporting countries, its economy has beenhit hard by plummeting prices. —Agencies

Mortgage service firm OKs $225m California settlement

Iraq’s oil reserves upto 153bn barrels

Peugeot to keep German jobs if it buys Opel: Report