18 theSun | FRIDAY JANUARY 9 2009

business

Hang Seng S&P/ASX200 TSEC KLCI STI KOSPI NIKKEI KL market summary
14,415.91 3,694.3 4,535.79 901.52 1,827.61 1,205.70 8,876.42
JANUARY 8, 2009
571.55 85.4 254.05 17.10 52.97 22.47 362.82
INDICES CHANGE
FBMEMAS 5,959.51 -114.86
COMPOSITE 910.52 -17.10

TNB open to all energy options

INDUSTRIAL 2,117.96 -49.99
CONSUMER PROD 289.05 -1.05
INDUSTRIAL PROD 68.53 -0.72

KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional
Bhd (TNB) is open to all options for
developing energy resources, includ-
ing nuclear power, its senior vice-
president of operations and technical,
Datuk Wira Md Sidek Ahmad, said
yesterday.
TNB will be looking at nuclear
power as a possible option for a
future energy mix if the indigenous
resources are no longer able to fulfil
the country’s energy demand, he
said.
“We need to consider other possi-
ble options, but it must be economical
that can sustain our energy demand
for the future,” he told reporters
after a briefing on nuclear power
for sustainable energy and environ-
ment by Prof Jong H. Kim from the
Korean Advanced Institute of Science
& Technology.
“So we need to listen and hear the
experience of other countries such as
Korea if in case we do decide to take
nuclear as an option for our future
energy mix,” he said.
Md Sidek said the experience of
countries like South Korea, Japan
and France, which are very much
dependent on nuclear power, has
shown that the technology is eco-
nomically viable as an energy option
compared to other energy resources.
He said nuclear power technology
has helped South Korea in stabilising
its electricity tariffs to be among the
cheapest in the region.
TNB, he added, will concentrate
on developing natural resources to
ensure continued energy supply for
the country.
Malaysia is developing the Re-
newable Energy (RE) Action Plan
which will spell out in detail the way
forward to increase the market share
of RE in the country’s energy genera-
tion mix.
The RE plan will be in line with
the Five-Fuel Policy which was for-
mulated under the Eighth Malaysia
Plan and is being promoted with
more emphasis under the Ninth
Malaysia Plan. – Bernama
briefs
UMW Toyota posts
record sales
KLANG: UMW Toyota Motor
Sdn Bhd, the distributor and
assembler of Toyota vehicles in
Malaysia, achieved a new sales
record of 101,600 units last year.
This is slightly above 18% of
the total industry volume (TIV)
for last year, said its managing
director Kuah Kock Heng.
UMW Toyota sold 82,000 units
of Toyota vehicles or 17.1% of
the TIV in 2007, he told reporters
after launching the company’s
newly upgraded branch in Jalan
Kepayang here yesterday.
Kuah said this year the local
automotive market would be-
come more competitive as the
TIV was expected to slide and
research had indicated that the
demand for new vehicles in the
country would contract by 8.1%.
– Bernama
New LCCT should be
ready by 2011: AirAsia
SEPANG: AirAsia Bhd expects
KLIA East, the proposed low
cost carrier terminal in Labu,
Negri Sembilan, to be ready by
March 2011, its chief executive
officer Datuk Seri Tony Fern-
andes said yesterday.
However, he said that it is
still premature to detail out
owning and funding plans of
the new airport that for now
is estimated to cost RM1.6
billion.
He said it is imperative for
AirAsia and AirAsia X to have
the new facility by 2011 as
the current LCCT is built for 10
million passengers and they
are already crossing 11 million
passengers. – Bernama
CONSTRUCTION
TRADING SERVICES
FINANCE
167.64 -2.56
119.89 -2.23
7,204.51 -92.05
PROPERTIES 541.65 -2.34
PLANTATIONS
MINING
4,541.06 -214.88
251.28 unch
FBMSHA 6,165.47 -149.08
FBM2BRD 3,995.79 -55.06
TECHNOLOGY 13.44 -0.07
TURNOVER VALUE
390.961mil RM632.270mil
Prices head south
SHARE prices headed south at
close on further selling pressure in
heavyweights, particularly planta-
tion stocks, as investors remained
cautious ahead of the United
States job data to be released late
tomorrow, dealers said.
At the closing bell, the KLCI
dropped 17.10 points or 1.843% to
910.52, dragged down by losses
mostly in Sime Darby and IOI Cor-
poration.
The dealers also said persistent
profit taking particularly in planta-
tion stocks was due to expecta-
tions that commodity prices had
hit a limit and would likely drop in
coming weeks.
Turnover dropped to 390.95
million units worth RM632.27
million from Wednesday’s close of
743.515 million shares valued at
RM1.116 billion.
Topping the losers list was Kuala
Lumpur Kepong which dropped
40 sen to RM10 while Sime Darby
declined 35 sen to RM5.45 and
Oriental Interest decreased 32 sen
to 85 sen.
For the actives, KNM eased 1.5
sen to 48.5 sen, IOI Corporation
lost 28 sen to RM3.98 and WCT
shed one sen to RM1.13.
As for the heavyweights, Tenaga
declined 10 sen to RM6.35, Maybank
decreased five sen to RM5.55 while
Bumiputra-Commerce and MISC
lost 15 sen each to RM6.85 and
RM8.65 respectively. – Bernama