Vonnie and we will be live in seoul. A. M. Init is 8 00 dubai. Sheri welcome to Bloomberg Markets middle east. Happenedtories, what to the u. S. Dollar after donald trump called it too strong, now plunging. We see a rebound in asia. Yousef you touched on some of the material. It has been a theme on Bloomberg Markets middle east. There could be a verbal intervention from the Donald Trump Team because the strong dollar does not serve the interest of the incoming administration. But it was all about the u. S. Dollar. Put up on your bloomberg. It is the cable trade. What a move off the back of the latest comments of theresa may. This is a move we saw. I highlighted the two moves. The downside move on the pound, that is when the brexit vote happened last year. Then you see the pop to the upside in green. That is the kind of magnitude you see going all the way back to 1993. Y yousef looks like im going to pick up here on some exciting moves we have seen in the middle east markets. A mixed picture across the board. In thisee the moves part of the world, some of the thingchem stocks, string stocks, boosting the petro chem play in saudi arabia. Look what is happening with doha bank. Watch out whats happening with egyptian stocks. Are strongestors buyers, pushing the market up to record territory, up 1. 3 . Watch what is happening with the turkish lira as the central bank continues to support the currency at 3. 76 against a u. S. Dollar. Shery right. We see the regional benchmark index in asia regaining some ground after losses earlier in the session. Lets get the latest from the markets with julia. ulio there is still julia there is still some trepidation ahead of trumps inauguration. You see a rebound coming through on the dollar. You see the safe haven play being sold off a little. Gold falling for the first time sessions. We are seeing some flat movement coming through on the nikkei. It has been in the red for much of the session. A little bit of conviction coming through in afternoon trade. Here in hong kong, these are the stocks to watch. The hang seng is at its highest level since the start of november. One of the strongest performers up over 1 . Only two stocks out of the 50 in the index in the red today. There has been a lot of speculation about state intervention. Speaking atdent xi davos. We have seen chinese home prices rise in fewer cities. The fewest since january last year. You see the property curb play in australia. The asx 200 is down by. 6 . Prettyasia, ready straight. And 1. 14 . Off, down about a 10th of 1 at the moment. 1215 announce. Througheakness coming in the yen at the moment. Yousef thanks for that. To the firster word headlines. Chinas president has urged global president s and global. Lites to resist protectionism xi jinping did not need the president elects comments, but warned that a trade war would cause injury to both sides. Protectionism is just like locking oneself in a dark room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, so are light and air. Emerge as a winner in a trade war. Hsbc says brexit needs Trading Operations with 20 of Investment Banking could move to paris. Hsbc moves quite slowly as we reorganize arm our business. It removes some uncertainty. We can see the pound rally as the prime nasser was speaking. Perhaps we got a fully operating banking subsidiary in france. So we will have to make some decisions today. We can wait see how this develops. Australias government has sold its biggest ever bond, issuing seven billion dollars in notes maturing in november. It was snapped up by investors. S P Global Ratings have had a negative outlook on australia since july. Yousef thanks. The president of costa rica is in dubai and talks are ongoing about potential cooperation around investments, specifically around 1 billion in government bonds, this after talks with china did not come through. Joining us now is the president of costa rica. Thank you very much for coming here on the show. Exciting times for you to drum up interest for Inbound Investment into costa rica. Talk to me about how those talks have gone so far and who you are talking to . Actually, the bond issuance has not been present in my rescissions. We did not do it with china last year and we are not up to that this year. But investment is a source of great interest to us. More trade also with the emirates. This is why i am here, to speak about Infrastructure Investments , to enhance trade in general. This is something that has gone very well. I think this has great interest and we will open an embassy in abu dhabi and a trade office in to generatesas mobility between the two countries. Rica, back home in costa you tried to move away from some of the traditional plays that people associate costa rica with, whether its coffee production or banana products. Someto give viewers context, we put together this special function. This is the sovereign curve for costa rican bonds. You can post it on your bloomberg. You can get a good idea. Starting off with a threeyear all the way to the 30year and the date of issuance along the horizontal axis as well. The fiscal position in terms of how much you are able to invest in infrastructure is a bit of a challenge at the moment. It is. We are in the midst of negotiating a tax reform, which is still going slow in congress. Yet the economy is running strong. 4. 5 ve been growing at a rate for the last couple of years. Investment growth holds steady. We have had zero inflation into an a half years. And the two are is him. Industry is back in full andngth so we are at a we have been able to pass laws to increase the revenue of our state and true tracks reform true tax reform is to come. Mr. President , trade between costa rica and the uae is growing exponentially. How important is it for costa rica to diversify trading partners at a time of heightened risk of the texans him of protectionism . Its extremely important. I am convinced we have to do this. We have done more or less the same thing in general. We have 12 free trade agreements throughout the world. Weekend reach the potential population of 2. 5 billion people as a result of that. We were just talking about investing in costa rica. Fortune 500of the companies are doing so in the services area, in the production of medical devices. We are moving from producing things to creating things. This is something that enthusiasts see is a good sign of costa ricas possibilities in the short and midterm. Shery there are concerns about mass deportations under the new trump administration. You have your own immigration situation right now with a massive wave of cubans and haitians coming to your borders. How will americas moves on this front affects costa rica . Not only your country, but also the rest of latin america . We will have to see. I dont want to speculate as to the new Administration Policy on immigration until they are more specific. Obviously, if the United States decides to close its borders, absolutely, something that most countries cant do come especially big ones. This is going to have an impact on the countrys, and passage countries such as mine. Fortunately, we do not have as the costa rica ands in United States, but migration continue. Yousef there is a saying in costa rica that says you should wait for the class to clear on the day before taking steps. You have a bold set of targets for fbi. Our use fdi. Are you still on track . Foreign direct investment has been growing at 9 to 10 rate over the past few years. We are still confident that this is possible. Again, it will all depend on when specific policies are established in the United States, including the is true straits the interest rates. Have a go up, we may problem with that. Nevertheless, costa rica is active in pursuing our trade agreement enforcement. President of costa rica, thank you very much for joining us on Bloomberg Markets. We will see you the next time you are in town. Thank you very much. Yousef still to come, the chief executive officer of saudi a ronco. Coming up next, we go live to seoul where the future liesmsungs heir apparent in the balance. This is bloomberg. Yousef saudi arabia has old plans when it comes to saudi aramco. The executivee to chief officer. L yes, our plan did not change since we talked last time. Go list inlan is to 2018. In the second half . I would say in the second half 2018. What do you need to do between now and then to make the floatation work . When do you think you will announce the further flotation plans . Will first be selecting the banks that will be helping us with the listing. That hopefully will come sometimes after we complete selecting the banks. And then selecting which market we will be listing in. We are looking at different additionor listing, in to a listing in saudi arabia. What markets, canada, london definitely, absolutely. Looking at new york, hong kong, mentionede u. K. , canada, all markets are being where we to decide will have the listing. And it will be a dual listing. It will depend on the assessment after the complete evaluation. Any progress in lowering the number of bankers . Theres 50 bankers. [laughter] [indiscernible] yes, we have seen a lot of bankers last year. We came to davos and met bankers. Not all related to the ipo. There are discussions. Shery that was the ceo of saudi arab co saudi aramco. He says about a billion barrels of oil need to be used up before there is a balance between supply and demand. We are seeing already the results of the agreement in the oil price. Think there is uncertainty still to come. But a lot of latent capacity in the system that has not produced from libya to nigeria. And of course the oil shale is coming back in a big way. I think we will see price volatility going forward. Francine the saudi arabia Prime Minister says he does not see the cost going on for six months. There is some optimism that, with the balancing already taking place, as from probably the Third Quarter of last year, that there will not be the necessity for the continued cuts. However, we still have a significant global storage of oil, close to a billion barrels. Wrap that storage away to say that we are in a supply and demand balance. Francine you have had to cut costs in general to deal with these lower oil prices. Is this the end of it . It is not for the end of it. We have to make sure that we continue to operate. We call it managing for margin, which is really focus in the business on operating in the most efficient possible way. That means keeping a very close eye on the margins and keeping a close eye on costs as a result of that. Uncertaintyprice means we will have to continue to do that going forward. Francine how much cost cuts can you do this year . Patrick its going to be really hard. We have really squeezed the lemon until it is pretty dry. We are coming to the end of what we can achieve. But it does it mean to say that we cant always think of better, more intelligent ways of doing our business to take out for the costs. Francine are you taking are you getting paid for some of the fuel and other things youre taken to iraq . Patrick major challenges and collections. Our client is the Kurdish Regional market. Egypt come over june at 60 million. In the case of the Kurdistan Regional market, more so. We are a negotiations to see where we can reduce those areas. Francine where do you think they will be unlocked . Patrick we are hopeful. In egypt come as the act the macroeconomic condition continues to improve, we are in continued discussions with the government on how to move forward. Like all businesses, if you dont get paid coming cant invest. It is a cycle. We need to be paid more to reinvest. So we are in close discussions with them about that. I am optimistic about a positive outcome. The macroeconomic challenges are even more significant in the region. So we are getting paid small amounts and we hope that that will continue and ultimately we will be able to recover the full amount. Francine and you talk to me about the expiration opportunities you see at the moment . We are very excited about our expiration potential in egypt. We have three expiration blocks. With the bp, we have operated one onshore block in the delta. We are currently in the reservoir section. Weve got some very exciting news, i hope, to be able to talk about in the very near future. Lacquathat was francine patrickinterview with allmanward. This is bloomberg. This is a case that has captured the nation. The mix between business, politics and alleged criminal ativity, things not shop samsung, one of the largest kongo on mars is in the crosshairs. Yousef give us a sense of expectations on the ground. Its pretty much split right now. As well this mind is an unprecedented request by the special prosecutors, to have the heir apparent of such a thee conglomerate have aecial prosecutors issue warrant. This has not been done before. It is pretty much split right now whether he indeed will be remanded to custody tonight or whether he will be free. Case that iss a really splitting the country. Peach e president in in peach impeached. So these are ties a go way back. Shery samsung has denied any wrongdoing. Implications for the company now . Wideranging ramifications. Lee said he never ordered donations to be made for political favors. And that is the heart of this case. What could happen is it throws the secession plans in disarray. Plans inccession disarray. Yousef thank you, steve. That is steve engle braving the cold. Next, hsbc tells us all the details you need to know. This is bloomberg. Susie hong kong regulators have suit alleging market misconduct. Been for history has suspended from trading since january 2011 and was in the process of relisting. Vladimir putin told reporters at the kremlin unsubstantiated claims were concocted by people who were turned to undermine the election results. These stories are clearly fake. When trump visited moscow, i dont remember when he came here a couple of years ago, he wasnt a politician. We didnt even know about his political ambitions, just a business, one of americas wealthy people. Do they think are special services are hunting for every u. S. Billionaire . Of course not. It is absolute nonsense. To cool chinas Property Market seems to be having its desired effect. China is inc. Urging cityspecific policies china is encouraging cityspecific policies. Wednesday is Caroline Kennedys last day as u. S. Ambassador to japan. The daughter of former president john f. Kennedy arrived in 2013 to more fanfare than a typical envoy. Kennedy is returning to her new york home and has not indicated her future plans. This is bloomberg. Shery thank you. Will proceedy slowly after u. K. Prime minister theresa may confirmed britain will leave the eu Single Market. Gulliver praised mays handling of brexit. Think hsbc will proceed quite slowly. Clearly clarity around Single Market remove some uncertainty and you can see how the pound rallied. But for us, weve got a fully banking in operating france. We can wait and see how this develops. We will still need to see how this thing develops. It was a very good speech and a positive step forward in terms of removing the uncertainty over the last few days. Her stance has been she wants to prioritize immigration over the Single Market. And she hasnt made a big fuss about financial services. You are a global bank of that employs a lot of nonbritish people. Surely, the direction in which britain is going is the wrong one in your perspective. K, there are three pieces to hsbc. There is a holding company. Decisions about brexit have no impact. London, u. K. Still remains the best place for global banks. Then a u. K. Retail bank, which headquartered in birmingham. That is affected by any slowdown in the u. K. Economy. So what happens in terms of gdp growth and an and unemployment will hit to those operations as negative. Thats the bit in which i said publicly that there are about a thousand jobs that are carrying out activities with european legislation. They will probably need to go to france. Theres no rush for us to do that at this moment. Bankers haveellow to make decisions pretty quickly now given that the u. K. Said it the singleout of market, about applying for licenses in some of the eu countries. We dont have to do that. The bigger issue, as you say, are the eu nationals. We have about 1300 noneu nationals on work permits. Policy is ofation considerable interest. We want to get the best possible people. I didnt get any sense that she isnt looking to create an environment where we cant employ the best people in the world. That was Stuart Gulliver speaking to bloomberg. Making the argument that why should institutions rush away from the u. K. And to the eurozone considering that there is a big electionyear. A lot of institutions may be willing to postpone any of those moves. You have to plan where you are good if you dont already bank, european subsidiary you really have to work out whether you are going to go to dublin or paris or frankfurt. And then youve got the plan for the worst and hope for the best. It is pretty clear that the european relationship will be status quo miners. It wont be as good as it was. I think they can negotiate many thing status quo minus. I think they can negotiate many things. Since they europeans are in an Election Campaign a must to the end of the year, it is good for the for britain to do a parallel. It would be devastating for london. We would come off a with age. This is not about making forecasts that sound frightening. This is all information based on the blanket the bank of england and a very clear economic forecast. Perspective,re chief asia pacific economist joins us now. Let me just ask you for your views on Prime Minister mays speech. I know you have some strong opinions. We have been working on the impact of brexit for europe and the u. K. And the u. K. And china and how that can change, of brexit forct china and the u. K. After seeing theresa mays speech, well, it is very nice, but is it real . Can she strike a deal more favorable than she could ever have before with the eu and still manage to strike deals all over the world . I think that is neutrally not possible. I just feel the u. K. , we need to choose what will be the main trading partner and he happens to be europe so far. If they decide otherwise, they would have to make a huge change in their trade structure. And its going to take time and its going to be painful. With president elect to donald trump, that boosted her case that this brexit could work out. But lets be real here. What you are pointing out to is the fact that the uks greatest services. In trade his the hope for many is the u. K. Will be able to strike favorable deals in the Services Sector with these noneu countries. How feasible is that . Possible for one simple reason. The u. K. , [indiscernible] they were literally start negotiating all of the most favored nations, closely with all the the ut oh members. That is the beginning of the story. To make a mother shortcut to that is target europe. Start with what used to be your Single Market. Forget about labor, free labor movement. Thats fine. But that is where theresa may will have to start. Yousef let me jump in here. The other side of the risk radar is what happened to the chinese months. In the next few weve got the latest data from chinese property prices and its showing that the latest efforts from authorities to cool the Housing Market are starting to take effect. What is the risk they are overshooting here . We are expecting a very good gdp fourthquarter data. The underlying reason is there is so much stimulus. Becaused to stop that of some real estate cautioning or cooling measures. The stimulus is so big. Remember, for every dollar that leaves china, which happens to , tolose to one trillion reduce its balance sheet, id has to have contractionary monetary policy. They need to inject renminbi. That is by itself an injection to renminbi. We saw a huge credit bolster a new loans, huge credit into the economy. These cooling measures are just a warning for some. Dont be too greedy. I dont think they are going to revert, to have a big impact on the real economy in china anytime soon. Im expecting good figures for the real estate sector. This quarter, fourthquarter 2017, and all of 2017. But the renminbi will be week. Shery we will have to look forward to those numbers. From saudiwe hear arabias biggest Property Developer about their Expansion Plan in mega in mecca. This is bloomberg. Shery welcome back. Lets get you a quick check on the latest headlines. The finance minister of saudi arabia expects growth will be significantly higher this year. Economic expansion will be north of 1 . The imf lowered its forecast from. 2 percent to four 2. 4 this year. To four point percent. The accord with five nations and the u. N. Cannot be easily undone. Incoming u. S. President to donald trump has called the pack the one of the worst deals ever made and vowed to scrap or renegotiated. They barclays still holds a 50 point 1 stake in the unit. It has been selling it down from an initial 62 . The seller for continued in the coming years. Continue inff will the coming years. Our china correspondent the details on an unusual champion for free trade, a communist leader. This was a speech at the World Economic forum. It was the first for chinese president. Xi jinping pushed back against detection is him and he really played up with the role of free trade and its benefits. Protectionism and he really played up the role of free trade and its benefits. He did not name the incoming president elect of the u. S. Take a listen to what he had to say. Protectionism is just like locking oneself in the dark room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, so our light and air. No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war. Xi jinping standing on the world stage. Tell me more about the domestic reaction is. Furnishescally, this his image as a strong, powerful, visionary leader. That is healthy for him because we have become his Party Congress taking place at the end of this year, a crucial political event for china and a potential reshuffling. It casts china and in the. Ole of a bastion of security china faces a number of its own big economic challenges. But with strong overall growth retreat hasarent given china a role. Yousef thank you. Lets crossover back to the deskn where saudi arabias one of saudi arabias biggest is onty developers the move. We spoke with the chief executive officer and asked him whether Foreign Investors will be able to invest now. I dont have a say on weld and whether he will be open to foreigners. I am quite positive and we will find the way is for investors to tap into mecca. Of course, with controls in place. Can you tell us about any Expansion Plan you have . Break some news with us that would be relevant. Strategy,ng to our our business revolves around the [indiscernible] with the vision of 2030, getting the business boosting numbers to 30 million visitors per year. Right now, we are 20 million pilgrims. There is a huge gap which reflect upon opportunity and challenges. This not only applies to proper accommodations, but logistics and services. So this will be an enriching experience. Museums,lking about agencies, logistics, etc. , etc. Eyeing opportunities in the fields that relate and evolves around you mean acquisition opportunities . Why not all the possibilities are open. Are you currently looking at specific deals that you are close to closing . Or are you in talks . I hope we will have good news that could complement the strategy positively. But this is more mediumterm . Or do you expect something to happen this year in terms of acquisitions if you find a Good Opportunity . I think we have a streak of good news this year. We are not haunted by the development itself. We have opportunities to develop outside. [indiscernible] are you looking at any possibility of raising debt through bonds or traditional loans through banks . We are looking to reduce debt and increase equity. So equity investors, thats one thing. And replacing some of the classic, direct borrowing, diversify the bondholders, the debtors, and increase and expand the maturity. So both are on the table. Are you looking at the sukuk right now. Currency or local International Markets after the kingdom . At this stage, i think it will be [indiscernible] but why not . Theres all kinds of necessary [indiscernible] to have secure credit rating. Are looking to secure an investment rate for the country, not only for sukuk only, but also for our risk managers and culture. Coming up, Oil Extending Gains ahead of u. S. Data. We preview that next. This is bloomberg. Yousef weekly supplied data out of the u. S. Wears stockpiles maybe fell last week. Mahmoud, lets start with the saudi minister p in what is the latest on that front on how they see things and how the road ahead looks like . Mahmoud there are two things that Oil Ministers are looking at are bidding on it one of them is demand and how demand is behaving in the next six months. The saudi Oil Ministers spoke about thinking the demand will recover and improve over the summer. That is one thing they are betting on. But another thing they are betting on is how are no pack and nonopec committing to the Production Cut agreement signed last year. Nonopecec and ministers committing to the Production Cut agreement signed last year. Yousef what about the situation with the inventories . There is a lot of optimism coming from the opec of group that the oversupply is being cleared fast enough, right . Mahmoud thats probably the whichrpart of the story, is you have the demand and the cutting bit of it, but some of casting a pessimist of you on that. Even investor leaders who have spoken in the last few days in , evenabi are saying how if inventories go down by 400,000 or 500,000 barrels, it will take years for inventories to clear up. That is something to be concerned about for policymakers and Oil Ministers in the region. Hate talkingmakers about the price of oil. But you are on the ground. What are you hearing . This is definitely something that was interesting to watch. Every time you ask an oil minister their view on price, they definitely shun that question. Right to dohey are so. It is difficult to predict anything, let alone oil prices in this environment. The main reason for that is and the one thing to actually look. T is Oil Production one thing they are looking at is oil Higher Oil Prices that are not too high that allow oil shelves come back, but not too low that will make it difficult to grow. Shery thank you for that. We are counting down to the market open in the emirates. What should investors be looking out for . Yousef here are some important stocks to watch as investors go into their trading day. Comments from the chairman. Good progress with properties in the u. K. With the cheap town, there may be additional opportunities. This is stock that had three buys and five sells. Also watch out for the saudi electricity bank. Thats all we have for Bloomberg Markets middle east. Shery top stories coming up. This is bloomberg. It is 1 00 p. M. In hong kong. Heres an update of your top stories. Validityecides on the of an arrest warning warrant. Ands accused of bribery in influence scandal. Measures to cool chinas Property Market appeared to be having the desired effect. Data shows new home prices rose and 46 of the 70 cities tracked by the government last month. That compares with 55 in november. China is encouraging policies that