16 theSun | THURSDAY APRIL 9 2009

KLCI 907.87 -11.97

T Nikkei 8,595.01 T
-237.84
business STI 1,783.96 -18.43
T TSEC 5,443.56 T
-133.29
Hang Seng 14,474.86 T
-454.11 KOSPI 1,262.07 -38.03
T
SCI 2,347.39 -91.80
T S&P/ASX200 3,619.50 -86.80
T

KL market summary
APRIL 8, 2009
INDICES
FBMEMAS
COMPOSITE
INDUSTRIAL
CONSUMER PROD
INDUSTRIAL PROD
5,960.68
907.87
2,151.11
288.86
67.63
CHANGE
-77.27
-11.97
-25.41
-1.14
-0.61
Japan set to boost
stimulus to US$150b
CONSTRUCTION 179.48 -3.73
TRADING SERVICES 121.62 -1.59
FINANCE 6,752.03 -98.90
PROPERTIES 532.21 -11.44
PLANTATIONS 4,731.39 -30.66
MINING 243.17 UNCH
FBMSHA 6,298.09 -77.00
FBM2BRD 3,961.84 +7.15
TECHNOLOGY 11.37 -0.15 TOKYO: Japan may boost its latest eco- though that was an improvement on a
nomic stimulus package to US$150 billion record deficit logged the previous month.

TURNOVER VALUE
613.012mil RM945.836mil
Prices lower on
profit taking
SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia ended
the day lower on weak buying momentum
as investors locked in profit while awaiting
announcement of the new cabinet line-up,
dealers said.
The KLCI fell 11.97 points to 907.87 after
opening five points lower at 914.84 in the
morning.
TA Securities in its research note said
the local bourse extended into profit-taking
consolidation yesterday with overnight falls
on Wall Street which further dampened market
tone.
The KLCI is expected to test the 910-point
support for resilience tomorrow, one of the
dealers said.
At closing, the Finance Index declined 98.9
points to 6,752.03, the Industrial Index dropped
25.41 points to 2,151.11 and the Plantation
Index decreased 30.66 points to 4,731.39.
Of the FTSE-BM Index series, the FBMEmas
fell 77.27 points to 5,960.68, the FBM30 shed
74.89 points to 5,826.76, the FBM2BRD rose
7.15 points to 3,961.84 and the FBM-MDQ
went down 70.31 points to 2,986.05.
Decliners led advancers by 352 to 144 while
178 counters were unchanged, 571 untraded
and 36 others suspended.
Among the actives, Maybank-OR declined
four sen to RM1.02, Axiata rose five sen to
RM1.84, KNM fell half sen to 43 sen and Mulpha
International dropped two sen to 29.5 sen.
Of the heavyweights, Sime Darby and
Maybank went down 10 sen each to RM6.05
and RM3.82 respectively, Tenaga Nasional was
25 sen lower at RM6.05 and TM decreased six
sen to RM3.58. – Bernama
(RM540 billion), reports said yesterday,
as Asia’s biggest economy confronted
a fresh slump in trade and a surge in
bankruptcies.
Japan’s current account surplus more
than halved in February from a year ear-
lier as plunging exports kept the world’s
second-largest economy deep in reces-
sion, government data showed.
Tokyo has ordered extra public spend-
ing of at least ¥10 trillion (US$100 billion) to
revive the economy, and the Kyodo News
and Jiji Press news agencies reported the
package could be worth as much as ¥15
trillion (US$150 billion).
Plummeting worldwide demand for
Japanese cars, machinery and hi-tech
goods has put Japan on course for its worst
economic slump since World War II.
The surplus in the current account, the
broadest measure of trade in goods and
services, more than halved in February,
Troubled Ssangyong
announces massive layoffs
SEOUL: Ssangyong Motor yesterday an-
nounced plans to lay off more than one third
of its workforce as part of a drive to keep
South Korea’s smallest automaker afloat.
The debt-stricken firm was put under
protection from creditors in February, a move
that means its Chinese owner, Shanghai
Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC), no longer
has management control.
Court-appointed managers including
Lee Yoo-Il have since struggled to turn the
company around through job cuts and cost
savings.
“I hope our new self-rescue programme
will lay the ground for Ssangyong’s resusci-
tation and growth,” Lee told reporters.
The programme calls for the layoffs of
There were also fresh signs of pain in
the corporate sector. Japanese bankrupt-
cies rose 14.1% in March to a six-year
high, a survey showed.
More than 1,500 companies collapsed
with debts of ¥10 million or more each,
Tokyo Shoko Research said.
Even Japan’s mighty car and elec-
tronics makers have been badly hurt by
recession in major markets including the
United States, Europe and Japan.
Sharp Corp said that it had fallen
deeper in the red than expected in the
past year, suffering its first-ever loss due
to the economic downturn.
The group estimated its net loss for
the financial year to March 2009 at ¥130
billion, worse than its earlier prediction
of a ¥100-billion shortfall.
Other industry heavyweights such as
Sony and Panasonic are also in the red
and shedding thousands of jobs. – AFP
2,650 workers, or 37% of the workforce, and
the sale of idle assets, he said.
It would be the first mass layoff by a
South Korean company since the onset of
the global economic crisis in September.
Union leaders representing 7,100
members immediately rejected the job cut
plan and demanded managers minimise
retrenchment through job sharing.
It also called for an injection of state
money and the sale of shares held by SAIC,
which still owns a 51% stake in Ssangyong.
Ssangyong has fallen into crisis amid
slow auto sales. It posted a net loss of 709.7
billion won (RM1.9 billion) last year on sales
of 2.5 trillion won, down 20% from a year
earlier. – AFP
briefs
Malaysia off OECD’s
worst tax haven list
PARIS: The OECD on Tuesday removed
Costa Rica, Malaysia, the Philippines and
Uruguay from its list of hard-line uncoopera-
tive tax havens after they bowed to pressure
and vowed to open up their books.
“These four jurisdictions have now
made a full commitment to exchange
information according to the OECD
standard,” OECD General-Secretary Angel
Gurria told a press conference in Paris.
Bank They were the only remaining countries
launches on the first of three lists published after
world leaders agreed last week at a G20
‘happy summit in London to crack down on tax
deals’ havens. One list named the four states the
pg 18 Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development said had not pledged
to accept international tax reporting
standards.
A second “grey list” named 38 territo-
ries that had committed to such standards
but had not yet fully implemented them,
and a third list identified 40 countries that
had substantially implemented them.
Costa Rica, the Philippines, Malaysia
and Uruguay are now on the “grey list.”
“They have officially informed the
OECD that they commit to cooperate in
the fight against tax abuse, that this year
they will propose legislation to remove
the impediments to the implementation
of the standard,” the OECD said. – AFP
‘GM in intense
bankruptcy preparations’
NEW YORK: General Motors Corp is in
“intense” and “earnest” preparations
for a possible bankruptcy filing, a
source familiar with the company’s

Asean to wrap up free plans told Reuters on Tuesday.

trade deal at summit
BEIJING: China and the Asso-
ciation of Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean) are likely to sign an invest-
ment treaty this week, capping long-
running talks for a comprehensive
trade agreement, a senior Chinese
diplomat said yesterday.
China signed an initial free trade
agreement with the 10 members of
Asean November 2002, and both
sides had set 2010 as a deadline for
a broader pact. .
“It appears that this measure will
be smoothly completed on time,”
Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister
Hu Zhengyue told a briefing ahead
of meetings in the Thai resort town
of Pattaya. The meetings start to-
morrow between Asean and various
dialogue partners, including China.
“A bright spot of the Ten Plus
One meeting will be the signing of
an investment agreement, and this
will signify that negotiations for a
free trade zone including China
and Asean have been completed,”
Hu said of the meeting bringing to-
gether the 10 Asean member states
Asian markets plunge on earnings gloom
HONGKONG: Stock markets across
Asia tumbled for a second straight
day yesterday as investors followed
a dive on Wall Street and fears for
corporate earnings further eroded
confidence.
Worries about the global banking
sector, bleak export data from Japan
and Beijing.
He would not describe any de-
tails of the investment agreement.
He said the focus of this
weekend’s meetings would be on
strengthening cooperation to sur-
mount the global financial crisis.
And with Premier Wen Jiabao lead-
ing a team of senior economic offi-
cials to the meeting, China appears
ready to cast itself as a reassuring
pillar of regional growth.
“Considering the current finan-
cial crisis, we believe it’s extremely
important that both sides continue
to strengthen investment between
them,” Hu said of China and the
Asean states.
Beijing has recently signed
currency swap agreements with
Indonesia and Malaysia to help
shore up trade.
Hu said his government was
open to similar deals with other
Southeast Asian nations, some of
which have raised the possibility.
He would not name those countries.
– Reuters
and figures showing a contraction in
the Eurozone economy also helped
fuel pessimism.
Hongkong slid more than 4%, Tokyo
2.69%, Sydney ended 2.34% off and
Seoul dived almost 3%.
Markets throughout the region
were in negative territory. – AFP
A plan to split the corporation into
a “new” company made up of the most
successful units, and an “old” one of
its less-profitable units, is gaining
momentum and is seen as the most
sensible configuration, said another
source familiar with the talks.
If the plan goes through, the new
GM would be expected to assume some
previous creditor debt from bankruptcy
proceedings, such as secured debt,
said the second source, adding that
GM bondholders were likely to lose
substantial value in bankruptcy. – AFP
Swiss freeze money for
OECD in tax haven spat
ZURICH: Switzerland has frozen a finan-
cial contribution to the OECD in protest at
being included on the organisation’s tax
havens list without being consulted, the
economy ministry said yesterday.
“Switzerland used its veto rights”
to withhold €136,000 (RM652,000)
earmarked for cooperation between the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development and the Group of 20
countries, ministry spokeswoman Rita
Baldegger said.
“The amount is relatively modest
but its a symbolic and strong gesture, a
protest,” she told AFP.
G20 leaders are using the OECD’s
listing of compliance with its interna-
tional tax exchange standard as a basis
for a crackdown on secretive offshore
havens.
Switzerland was classified on a ‘grey’
list of about 40 countries which have
pledged to comply but have not yet
substantially implemented the standard.
– AFP