theSun | FRIDAY FEBRUARY 20 2009 17

business KLCI
STI
899.59
1,629.35
4.36
21.71
Nikkei
TSEC
7,557.65
4,528.87
23.21
30.50
Hang Seng 13,023.36 7.36 KOSPI 1,107.10 6.09
SCI 2,227.00 17.26 S&P/ASX200 3,448.90 35.70

Bankruptcy stalks US car

makers despite loan plans
CHICAGO: Even if General Motors and of GM’s request for additional loans.
KL market summary Chrysler obtain billions more in govern- “It’s too big to fail, especially in a
ment loans, the threat of bankruptcy re- fragile economy.”
FEBRUARY 19, 2009 mains high for the troubled automakers, But Levy warned there is “no guaran-
analysts warned Wednesday. tee” the massive restructuring plans will
INDICES CHANGE “Despite the extension of consider- actually work.
FBMEMAS 5,896.54 +27.47 able emergency funding to GM and The biggest threat to long-term vi-
COMPOSITE 899.59 +4.36 Chrysler and their finance arms, we ability is how long it takes for global auto
INDUSTRIAL 2,113.15 +7.30 continue to see a high risk of a Chapter sales to recover and how far auto sales
CONSUMER PROD 284.33 -1.58
INDUSTRIAL PROD 67.33 UNCH
11 (bankruptcy) filing by one or more fall in the coming months.
CONSTRUCTION 168.18 +0.49 of the US auto makers,” Bruce Clark of But the US Treasury may also be
TRADING SERVICES 118.55 +0.85 Moody’s Investors Service said. forced to allow at least Chrysler to fail
FINANCE 7,132.46 +41.41 Moody’s, a credit rating agency, if it is not able to get creditors to agree
PROPERTIES 539.33 +2.35 estimated the likelihood of an “orderly” to a debt-for-equity swap and convince
PLANTATIONS 4,392.13 -34.90 bankruptcy protection filing backed by the United Auto Workers union to make
MINING 243.17 UNCH the government at 70%. major concessions on wage and health
FBMSHA 6,117.14 +23.46) GM and Chrysler insist they can care costs.
FBM2BRD 4,001.99 +6.55
TECHNOLOGY 13.18 -0.18
return to profitability if the US Treasury The “extremely damaging” economic
extends up to US$21.6 billion (RM77.76 ripple effects resulting from a bankruptcy
TURNOVER VALUE billion) in additional loans on top of could actually make it more necessary
334.989mil RM595.489mil the US$17.4 billion (RM62.64 billion) in order to force “sceptical” creditors and
approved in December. That would the union to make concessions, Moody’s
bring GM’s total to US$30 billion and Clark said in a research note.
Gains on blue chips lift CI Chrysler’s to US$9 billion. “The government may in fact have
SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia ended the day In detailed, long-term viability plans to stand aside and allow one or more
mixed amid consistent interest in key index- submitted to the Treasury Tuesday, they companies to make a Chapter 11 filing
linked stocks following three straight days of warned that the cost of doing nothing as a measure that could accelerate the re-
losses, dealers said. would be far higher. structuring that is necessary,” he wrote.
Gains on key heavyweights helped push the GM placed the tab of restructuring The Treasury has until March 31 to
benchmark KLCI to 899.59, up 5.50 points, after through bankruptcy at US$100 billion decide whether to extend the loans or
opening 1.15 points higher at 896.38. while Chrysler said it would need US$24 call them in and allow the US automak-
According to dealers, yesterday’s market billion. ers to collapse, and there is little public
was relatively strong amid rising optimism over Both said the government would support for giving any more taxpayer
the global economic recovery, with the United likely be the only source of that financ- money to GM and Chrysler.
States having started distributing its stimulus ing and warned that a liquidation – and A poll released Wednesday by Ras-
package. the loss of up to three million US jobs mussen found 64% of Americans opposed
The latest was the US$275 billion (RM1 – would be the likely outcome. providing any additional taxpayer-backed
trillion) move to boost the housing market as “The government is going to come loans for the embattled automakers, and
recent data showed it was starting to hit a through,” Efraim Levy, an analyst with 57% say the government is not likely to
record low. – Bernama Standard & Poor’s Equity Research, said get the money back. – AFP

AirAsia sells 13,000 billion) last year and that it would be

seats for Tianjin route
BEIJING: Despite the economic gloom,
AirAsia has sold 13,000 seats for its new
service to Tianjin, since bookings opened a
week ago. Tianjin is AirAsia’s first destina-
tion in northern China. AirAsia’s inaugural
flight to the busy port city will take off on
April 2, the eighth overall destination in
China and the airline has plans to grow its
mainland network to three more cities.
Nestle’s net profit jumps
GENEVA: Swiss food giant Nestle said
yesterday its net profit surged 69.4%
to 18 billion Swiss francs (RM56.4
among the industry’s fastest growing
companies this year. – AFP
Sumitomo Japan injects
RM30m in Merchantrade
KUALA LUMPUR: Sumitomo Corpora-
tion, Japan, has invested M30 million n
Merchantrade Asia Sdn Bhd, a Malaysia
incorporated company engaged in pre-
paid mobile and remittance services.
Sumitomo will contribute to the
company by supporting its deployment
of new services like integrated service
and marketing expansion as well as
enhancing its corporate governance, it
said in a statement. – Bernama
Jaring gears up to help SMEs
KUALA LUMPUR: Jaring Communi-
cations Sdn Bhd has introduced a
new high speed broadband business
package, Biz-on-Net, aimed at helping
small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
optimise performance and reduce
information technology (IT) costs.
Its chief executive officer, Dr
Mohamed Awang Lah, said the new
product can assist newly established
SMEs save as much as RM6,717 in
the first year of operations and focus
more on their core business.
The new product which comes
in three packages, namely, Jaring
Flite SME gold, silver and bronze, is
designed to ease upgrades and help
customers reduce operational costs
through total internet solutions.
“Each package offers the same
services at different levels of speed
and capabilities, depending on the
size, scope and general requirements
of the client,” Mohamed told
reporters after officiating the Biz-on-
Net and receiving The International
Customer Services Standards (TICSS)
certification, here yesterday.
The Biz-on-Net is available at
a monthly fees of RM2,099 (gold),
RM1,349 (silver) and RM899
(bronze).
On the TICSS certification, Mo-
hamed said it was awarded by the
British Standards Institution (BSI) in
the United Kingdom.
Jaring Communications has
become the first internet service
provider in the world, and the first
company in Malaysia and Asia-Pacific
region to receive the BSI recognition.
– Bernama