18 theSun | TUESDAY MARCH 17 2009

KLCI 840.88 2.57 Nikkei 7,704.15 134.87

business STI 1,586.32 8.80 TSEC 4,971.32 73.93
Hang Seng 12,976.71 450.91 KOSPI 1,125.46 0.57
SCI 2,153.29 24.44 S&P/ASX200 3,348.40 3.20

KL market summary

Asian markets
MARCH 16, 2009

INDICES CHANGE
FBMEMAS 5,450.51 - 23.31
COMPOSITE 840.88 -2.57
INDUSTRIAL 2,041.84 -0.77
CONSUMER PROD 279.14 +0.84

stay bullish
INDUSTRIAL PROD 63.98 +0.01
CONSTRUCTION 161.69 +1.08
TRADING SERVICES 112.09 -0.73
FINANCE 6,143.20 +2.19
PROPERTIES 494.91 -0.56
PLANTATIONS 4,375.42 -39.41
MINING 241.15 UNCH
FBMSHA 5,852.30 -38.18
FBM2BRD 3,830.41 +17.19 TOKYO: Asian markets continued “We’ll see recovery beginning
TECHNOLOGY 12.26 +0.03 higher yesterday after US Federal next year. And it will pick up steam
Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke over time.”
TURNOVER VALUE said America had averted another Last week, the blue-chip Dow
272.447mil RM462.170mil Great Depression and was already Jones share index fought back from
And I think seeing the “green shoots” of eco- 12-year lows, while Bernanke said a
as those nomic recovery. government fund of US$500 billion
Prices close lower on selling green Resuming last week’s strong (RM1.85 trillion) was stabilising
rebound, Tokyo’s Nikkei-225 the mortgage market and business
SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia closed lower shoots
closed up 1.78% with Hongkong lending was picking up.
yesterday as investors sold off their holdings in begin to 0.96% higher in the afternoon ses- “And I think as those green
selected heavyweights due to concerns over appear in sion. Taipei and New Zealand also shoots begin to appear in different
the gloomy global economic scenario, dealers different made gains with Sydney finishing markets, and as some confidence
said. The benchmark KLCI ended the day 2.57 0.1% stronger. begins to come back, that will begin
markets,
points lower at 840.88 dragged down by losses Tokyo rocketed 5.15% on Fri- the positive dynamic that brings
on plantation and finance related stocks. and as day and Bernanke’s upbeat com- our economy back,” he said.
“We remain vigilant on the local market some ments will do nothing to hurt the But optimism was tempered by
despite a good rebound for the US market this confidence long-awaited rally in Asian share another raft of gloomy reports from
week. Investors on the local bourse should begins prices. Asia, with Singapore saying its
continue to adopt a “Sell on Rallies” strategy,” In his first television interview, recession will get worse this year
Aseambanker said in a research note. to come
the Federal Reserve chairman said before staging a weak recovery in
Foreign selling could still cap the local back, no more big banks would fail and the last quarter.
bourse’s earnings, it said, adding that it expects that will expressed confidence the world Gross domestic product (GDP)
a potentially weaker tone for the KLCI and KLCI begin the was not about to see a repeat of the is likely to fall 8.5% in the quarter to
futures this week in the absence of fresh leads 1930s Great Depression. March from a year ago, more than
positive
to drive the local market upwards. “I think we’ve averted that double the 4.2% shrinkage in the
Among the actives, Resorts fell one sen to dynamic risk,” Bernanke told CBS, adding fourth quarter of 2008, according to
RM1.92, KNM declined half sen to 32.5 sen and that that recovery depended on fixing a central bank survey.
Compugates was unchanged at 15.5 sen. brings our the banking system. DBS Bank said it expected
As for the heavyweights, Sime Darby closed economy “We’re working on it. And I do February exports, which will be
unchanged at RM5.40, Maybank declined think that we will get it stabilised, announced today, plummeted
two sen to RM3.98, Tenaga eased 25 sen to back.”
and we’ll see the recession com- 23.6% year on year.
RM5.90 and TM increased four sen to RM3.52. ing to an end probably this year,” China said foreign direct invest-
– Bernama Bernanke said. ment fell nearly 16% in February
from a year earlier, while the
Financial Times newspaper said
Beijing may have lost US$80 bil-
lion (RM296 billion) in ill-timed
investments of its foreign exchange
reserves. – AFP

I-City ready to serve Islamic

financial sector
by Yee Jie Min
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
SHAH ALAM: Three years
after its launch, i-City, which
aims to become a hub for
the knowledge economy in
Selangor, is ready to serve the
Islamic financial sector.
Islamic financial institu-
tions have not suffered mas-
sive losses amid the global
financial turmoil and are thus
in a strong position to play a
leading role in the recovery
of the world economy.
“We believe i-City is well
placed to benefit from the
growth of this sector. The
infrastructure and facilities
required by the international
Islamic financial institutions
are no different from those
established in i-City.
“This will augur well for
our plans to develop an in-
ternational Islamic financial
is the technology provided
such as wireless network
and because of this, a lot of
tenants have signed and are
actually in the renovation
process,” said I-Berhad chief
executive officer Lim Boon
Siong at the briefing.
I-City, which has been
given the MSC Malaysia
CyberCentre status by the
federal government and de-
clared an international park
by the state government, has
also forged strategic alliances
with world’s leading players
in the digital industry such
as Intel and Cisco, as well
as secured investments from
international knowledge
groups such as ServCorp of
Australia and Al Rajhi Bank-
ing Group of Saudi Arabia.
As an ICT-enabled prop-
erty developer, I-Berhad has
received wide support for
its pioneering development
concept and over the years it
has garnered unprecedented
support from all the stake-
holders for the i-City project.
I-Berhad post record a
pre-tax profit of RM16 mil-
lion last year.
The group is financially
strong with more than RM120
million in cash reserves and
no borrowing while its net
tangible assets (NTA) has in-
creased to RM1.54 per share.
There is still a substantial
part of i-City to be developed
as to date only 10% of the
available land has been de-
veloped.
With over five million
square feet of space, valued
at RM1.5 billion, i-City will
offer corporate offices, a retail
mall, hotels, serviced resi-
dences, a convention centre,
hypermarket, an intelligent
school and more.
ANWAR FAIZ/THESUN

hub in i-City,” said I-Berhad

chairman Tan Sri Datuk
Hamad Kama Piah Che
Othman told a media
briefing after the group’s
annual general meeting
yesterday.
The first phase of the
i-City – the building of
Cybercentre I Office Suites
– is syariah-compliant
where it will meet the
requirements of Islamic
positioning which prohibits
elements such as gambling
and alcohol.
Hamad Kama Piah and Lim at the media
“The uniqueness of i-City
briefing after the company’s AGM.