16 theSun | THURSDAY APRIL 23 2009

business

KLCI 968.58 1.98 Nikkei 8,727.30 15.97

STI 1,843.41 43.84 TSEC 5,886.11 4.70
Hang Seng 14,878.45 407.44 KOSPI 1,356.02 19.21
SCI 2,461.35 74.48 S&P/ASX200 3,668.20 9.20

market summary APRIL 22, 2009

Prices end firmer INDICES CHANGE

SHARE prices on Bursa Ma-
laysia ended firmer yesterday
with the key KLCI up 0.21%
on the back of follow-through
buying and some bargain
hunting activities which
helped sustain the positive
undertone, dealers said.
The KLCI was up 1.98
points to close at 968.58 after
trading at an intra-day high
of 976.29. It had opened 4.80
points higher at 971.40 in the
morning.
“Volume was seen rising
again as buying momentum
returned to the market during
the morning session to send
the KLCI above the 970 level.
“However, some profit-
taking activities in the after-
noon session, offset part of the
earlier gains,” a dealer said.
Advancers led decliners by
360 to 262 while 207 counters
were unchanged, 413 untraded
and 36 others suspended.
Topping the actives FBMEMAS 6,383.41 +18.88
list, KNM Group eased COMPOSITE 968.58 +1.98
INDUSTRIAL 2,220.27 -12.13
1.5 sen to 53 sen while CONSUMER PROD 298.17 -0.47
Time dotCom rose 1.5 INDUSTRIAL PROD 72.37 +0.14
sen to 30 sen and Lion CONSTRUCTION 184.99 -1.23
Diversified gained 2.5 TRADING SERVICES 130.17 +0.40
sen to 43 sen. Lion Indus- FINANCE 7,370.63 +43.60
tries advanced 0.75 sen PROPERTIES 585.32 -0.35
to 88.5 sen with Axiata PLANTATIONS 4,931.30 +15.48
Group edging up two sen MINING 299.91 +32.42
FBMSHA 6,693.72 +18.98
to RM1.98. FBM2BRD 4,069.65 +2.17
Of the heavyweights, TECHNOLOGY 12.35 +0.01
Maybank edged up two
sen to close at RM4.32, TURNOVER VALUE
Bumiputra-Commerce 1.111bil RM1.036bil
went up 15 sen to
RM8.05 and IOI Corp was However, Proton’s share
four sen higher at RM4.30. came under selling pressure
Sime Darby, which will yesterday as investors took
sell its five-star Equatorial profits from Tuesday’s rally. The
Hotel in Malacca for RM180 company, which is currently
million, ended five sen higher in talks on the rationalisation
at RM6.40, while Tenaga Na- of Proton-Edaran Otomobil
sional which has reportedly Nasional Bhd’s distribution
reduced its debt and currency network and service centres,
exposure advanced 10 sen to closed 12 sen lower at RM3.00.
RM7.20. – Bernama

CPI up 3.5% in March

KUALA LUMPUR: The consumer price
index (CPI) rose 3.5% year-on-year in March
2009, slower than the 3.7% increase in the
previous month.
From January to March 2009, the CPI was
up by 3.7% compared to the same period last
year, the Statistics Department said in a state-
ment yesterday.
This was brought by increases observed
in the indices of all main groups except
transport, clothing and footwear and com-
munications, which decreased by 2.1%, 0.8%
and 0.5% respectively.
Notable increases among the main groups
were food and non-alcoholic beverages,
which increased 9.2% while housing, water,
electricity, gas and other fuels rose 1.6%.
Other increases were alcoholic beverages
and tobacco (8.3%); furnishings, household
equipment and routine household mainte-
nance (4.6%); restaurants and hotels (4.4%);
miscellaneous goods and services (3.4%);
education (2.7%); health (2.6%); and recrea-
tion, services and culture (1%).
Compared with the previous month, the
CPI for March 2009 for food and non-alco-
holic beverages decreased by 0.5%, while the
index for non-food remained unchanged at
107.8, the department said.
The decreases were seen for food at home,
and coffee, tea, cocoa and non-alcoholic
beverages by 0.8 and 0.1% respectively.
However, the index for food away
increased by 0.2%. – Bernama

MBSB seeks to finance RM300m project

PETALING JAYA: Financial services
institution Malaysia Building Society Bhd
(MBSB) is looking to finance a property
project worth RM300 million under its newly
launched MBSB Musharakah Joint Venture
Programme.
“We are talking with a company, with the
involvement of government-linked compa-
nies,” MBSB chief executive officer Ahmad
Zaini Othman said at a press conference
after the soft launch of the programme here
yesterday.
MBSB, a 67.3% subsidiary of the Employ-
ees Provident Fund (EPF), specialises in
personal financing, mortgage and corporate
businesses, and treasury and structured
funds.
Ahmad Zaini said the latest programme
was in line with MBSB’s new direction to repo-
sition itself in the Islamic financial market.
Considered as the first of its kind in Ma-
laysia, the programme offers partnership in
property development, contract financing and
object/asset financing, especially to develop-
ers, land owners and contractors, he said.
“Musharakah is a programme to enable
MBSB to undertake corporate financing ac-
tivities on a joint venture basis, using the
underlying Islamic financing contract of
musharakah,” Ahmad Zaini said.
The concept is the most preferred and glo-
bally accepted financing structure, especially
among countries in the Middle East, he said.
– Bernama

Honda records 55% rise tion is sufficient to finance 8.1 months of

in sales for March
KUALA LUMPUR: Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd sold
3,905 vehicle units in March 2009, an increase
of 55% year-on-year despite the current market
conditions. The bulk of the sales came from its
All-New City which sold 2,342 units with a back
order of close to 4,000 units, the company said.
Other staple contributors included the Accord
with 471 units, Civic with 471 units and CR-V
with 346 units, it said in a statement yesterday.
Honda Malaysia’s quarter-on-quarter growth
was also higher at 46%. – Bernama
BNM’s international reserves
at RM320bil
KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia’s
international reserves amounted to RM320.1
billion as at April 15, 2009. The reserves posi-
retained imports and four times the short-
term external debt, said the central bank in
a statement yesterday. – Bernama
Pruvent targets RM100mil
IT exports
CYBERJAYA: The Telekom Malaysia Entrepre-
neur & Vendor Association (Pruvent) is targeting
RM100 million in information technology (IT) ex-
ports within the next three years. This is double
the export figure over the past two years.
Pruvent is in the business of acquiring,
manufacturing and distributing products for the
telecommunications industry, mainly for Telekom
Malaysia and its regional customers.
Its deputy president Datuk Dr Zahrah A. Kadir
said the products currently exported include
fibre-optic cables to Cambodia, Pakistan, Bang-
ladesh, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. – Bernama