theSun | TUESDAY AUGUST 4 2009 13

1,171.31  3.59
T 10,352.47  4.36
T
business KLCI
STI 2,681.64 S
22.44
Nikkei
TSEC 7,056.71 T
21.00
Hang Seng 20,807.26 233.93
S KOSPI 1,564.98  7.69
S
SCI 3,462.59 S
50.53 S&P/ASX200 4,263.40 S
19.40

market summary AUGUST 3, 2009

INDICES CHANGE
Shares mixed at close FBMEMAS 7,917.78 -2.01
SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia down 4.53 points to 9,550.70, of the MESDAQ Market into an FBM-KLCI 1,171.31 -3.59
ended the day mixed yesterday while the Plantation Index rose alternative market for emerg- INDUSTRIAL 2,586.12 +10.14
amid hopes that the world eco- 1.74 points to 5,611.34 and the ing companies of all sizes and CONSUMER PROD 352.30 +2.81
nomic recession is easing, said Industrial Index increased 10.14 sectors. INDUSTRIAL PROD 90.00 +0.59
dealers. points to 2,586.12. The market is now called CONSTRUCTION 226.80 -0.74
TRADING SERVICES 154.95 -0.28
Dealers said the industrial The FBM Emas Index slipped the ACE Market. In addition, the FINANCE 9,550.70 -4.53
and plantation stocks were the 2.01 points to 7,917.78, and the main and second boards were PROPERTIES 761.40 +9.19
most attractive as optimism rose FBM Top 100 eased 7.59 points also merged today into a single PLANTATIONS 5,611.34 +1.74
in the market with anticipation to 7,698.46. unified board for established MINING 330.31 -2.03 EXCHANGE RATE AUGUST 3, 2009
of increasing demand. The FBM The FBM ACE Index which companies, now known as the FBMSHA 8,124.21 +16.65
KLCI however eased to 1,171.31, was introduced for the first Main Market. FBMACE 4,266.96 +8.25
TECHNOLOGY 17.10 +0.01 Foreign currency Bank sell Bank buy Bank buy
losing 3.59 points after opening time yesterday, rose 8.25 points Gainers led losers 319 to 310
0.56 of a point lower at 1,174.34 to 4,266.96. while 216 counters were un- TT/OD TT OD
TURNOVER VALUE
yesterday morning. The formation of the index changed, 387 untraded and 58 1 US DOLLAR 3.5420 3.4770 3.4670
795.195mil RM1.224bil
The Finance Index went was due to the transformation others suspended. – Bernama 1 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR 3.0030 2.8710 2.8550
1 BRUNEI DOLLAR 2.4720 2.4110 2.4030
1 CANADIAN DOLLAR 3.2980 3.2170 3.2050
1 EURO 5.0680 4.9450 4.9250

Emerging markets power 1 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR

1 PAPUA N GUINEA KINA
1 SINGAPORE DOLLAR
1 STERLING POUND
1 SWISS FRANC
100 ARAB EMIRATES DIRHAM
2.3810
1.4710
2.4715
5.9480
3.3220
98.1500
2.2750
1.2080
2.4110
5.8040
3.2400
92.9600
2.2590
1.1920
2.4030
5.7840
3.2250
92.7600

ahead,, Japan gloom darkens

ahead
Thai inflation contracts by
4.4% in July
BANGKOK: Thailand’s consumer prices fell
by 4.4% in July – the biggest drop in more
than a decade, the commerce ministry said
yesterday. It was the seventh consecutive
month to see a year-on-year contraction
in the consumer price index, permanent
secretary of the commerce ministry Siripol
Yodmuangcharoen said at a news confer-
ence in Bangkok. “Inflation in July declined
by 4.4% compared to a year earlier, which
was the biggest fall in more than 10 years,”
he told reporters, but he said it was not yet
at deflation levels. – AFP
Bosch, Samsung chosen
for car batteries: BMW
FRANKFURT: German luxury car maker
BMW said yesterday it had chosen the
German auto parts maker Bosch and
its Korean partner Samsung to supply
lithium-ion batteries for a future electric
city car. A BMW statement said that the
decision was a milestone on the path
to mass production of a city car and
Samsung chief executive Soon Taek Kim
said his group and Bosch would “supply
BMW with the best battery technol-
ogy available in terms of performance,
range and safety.” Developing reliable
batteries has been a major hurdle in
making electric cars but they now pro-
vide sufficient autonomy to make such
vehicles economically viable. – AFP
Panasonic announces Q1
net loss of US$560m
TOKYO: Japan’s Panasonic Corp. announced
yesterday a net loss of ¥52.98 billion (RM2
billion) for the April-June quarter, blaming
weak sales of electronic goods during the
recession. Panasonic, which made a profit
of ¥73.03 billion (RM2.7 billion) in the same
period of 2008, left unchanged its forecast
for a loss of ¥195 billion (RM7.3 billion) in
the full business year to March 2010. The
group, which changed its corporate name
from Matsushita Electric Industrial in Octo-
ber, is cutting 15,000 jobs and closing doz-
ens of plants as it struggles to recover from
its first annual loss in six years. – AFP
Barclays says first-half
profits jump almost 10%
LONDON: British banking giant Barclays
announced yesterday that first-half
net profits soared 9.9% to £1.9 billion
(RM11.2 billion) despite the global
financial crisis.
Barclays said in a results statement
that revenues surged by 37% to a
record BMW is currently testing about
600 models of its electrically-powered
Mini car in Britain, Germany and the
US, and mass production is forecast for
2015, the statement said. – AFP
SINGAPORE: Factory activity hit multi-
month highs in emerging economies in July
as they scrabbled out of the worst global
recession since the 1930s, but developed
economies continued to shrink, although at
a slower pace.
Asian stocks inched up to an 11-month
high yesterday as evidence mounted that the
global economic recovery is gathering speed,
giving a boost to oil and copper prices while
hurting the safe-haven US dollar.
Two surveys showed Chinese factory
growth accelerated in July, thanks to a re-
vived domestic economy and a slight pick-up
in demand for its exports, though global de-
mand still appeared sluggish. The China PMI
from brokerage CLSA hit a one-year peak.
In the United States, a report on Friday
showed the economy shrank at a smaller-
than-expected 1% on an annualised pace in
the second quarter, with economists expect-
ing growth to resume in the second half of the
year after the longest contraction on record.
The economic debate in the coming week
is almost certain to be dominated by Friday’s
US non-farm payrolls report, a potential
roadblock given that jobs are among the last
to improve when economies do and have a
large impact on consumer sentiment.
Investors will also be watching sales re-
ports by US auto makers that are expected to
show how big a boost they received from the
government’s US$1 billion (RM3.6 billion)
“cash for clunkers” programme that offered
incentives to buy new, more fuel-efficient
cars and triggered a rebound in demand.
The improving economic backdrop has
already contributed to an array of upbeat
quarterly earnings reports from companies
around the world, prompting analyst up-
grades to forecasts that are spurring investors
to shift funds into equities.
“Brokers have done a complete reversal in
Maybank Investment Bank in
talks to refinance GLCs’ bonds
KUALA LUMPUR: Maybank Investment Bank
Bhd is in talks with several government-linked
companies (GLCs) to refinance their conventional
bonds to sukuk, chief executive officer Moham-
med Rashdan Mohd Yusof said yesterday.
“We are looking at a few (GLCs). I can’t mention
their names. There are also non-GLCs. We have
a significant amount of deals in the pipeline,” he
told reporters on the sidelines of the 2009 IFN
Issuers and Investors Asia Forum here.
Describing it as an industry phenomenon,
Mohammed Rashdan said that apart from GLCs,
many companies were looking at raising capital
via sukuk.
“Companies are looking to take advantage of
the current attractive rates to refinance. A lot of
it is in sukuk,” he said, adding that sukuk provided
a small amount of rate savings of about five to
10 basis points.
According to Mohammed Rashdan, there is a
the last week, with uplifts in forecasts, uplifts
100 BANGLADESH TAKA
100 CHINESE RENMINBI
100 DANISH KRONE
100 HONGKONG DOLLAR
100 INDIAN RUPEE
100 INDONESIAN RUPIAH
5.3400
N/A
70.0800
46.5200
7.6900
0.0372
5.2100
N/A
64.3900
44.0500
7.0600
0.0314
5.0100
N/A
64.1900
43.8500
6.8600
0.0264
in sentiment and commentary and price 100 JAPANESE YEN 3.7480 3.6580 3.6480
targets,” said Jamie Spiteri, a dealer at Shaw 100 NEW TAIWAN DOLLAR N/A N/A N/A
Stockbroking in Sydney. 100 NORWEGIAN KRONE 59.8500 54.9800 54.7800
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks
outside Japan edged up 0.5% to the highest 100 PAKISTAN RUPEE 4.3600 4.0700 3.8700
levels since early September, taking gains so 100 PHILIPPINE PESO 7.5500 7.0900 6.8900
far this year to 47%. 100 QATAR RIYAL 98.8000 93.9800 93.7800
Shares of auto makers and banks were 100 SAUDI RIYAL 95.920 91.240 91.040
among the biggest gainers. 100 SOUTH AFRICAN RAND 47.3200 43.5300 43.3300
But Japan’s Nikkei share average dipped 100 SRI LANKA RUPEE 3.1900 2.9200 2.7200
0.3% and pulled back from a 10-month clos-
ing high as investors took profits and awaited 100 SWEDISH KRONA 51.1700 46.5200 46.3200
a slate of earnings reports this week. 100 THAI BAHT 11.1700 9.4700 9.0700
In China, a private purchasing managers’ Source: Malayan Banking Berhad/Bernama
index rose in July to a one-year high of 52.8
from 51.8, as resurgent domestic demand
spurred manufacturing activity in the world’s
third-largest economy.
Output growth and order books both hit
14-month highs in July, a sign that the flow
of new work was improving and giving busi-
China: Rio Tinto exec
nesses reason to expect sustained recovery
momentum.
A companion PMI, produced for the
would have broken
National Bureau of Statistics, rose to 53.3 in
July from 53.2 in June, its fifth straight month
Aussie law too
above the 50 mark. SYDNEY: A top Chinese official has called on Canberra
In neighbouring India, manufacturing ac- to respect China’s legal system, saying a mining execu-
tivity growth held steady in July amid robust tive held in Shanghai would have broken Australian law
local demand and a slight rebound in exports, if his alleged crimes had occurred here.
but intense competition curbed companies’ Chinese authorities detained Australian citizen Stern
pricing power even as raw material costs Hu and three other employees of mining giant Rio Tinto
jumped, a survey showed. on July 5 and accused them of bribery and stealing state
In Moscow, the Russian purchasing man- secrets during iron ore contract negotiations.
agers’ index rose to a 10-month high in July, China’s Vice-Foreign Minister, Liu Jieyu, who is
signalling that a year-long contraction in the visiting Australia, defended his government’s highly-
manufacturing sector may be nearing its end, contentious arrest of Hu and urged Canberra not to
data from VTB Capital showed. interfere in the case.
Russia is weathering its first recession “The facts of the case would constitute a violation
in a decade, hurt by low oil and commodity of Australian laws were the facts (to) happen here in
prices, reduced global demand and the global Australia,” Liu told the Australian Broadcasting Corpora-
credit crunch. – Reuters tion (ABC) late Sunday.
“The Chinese government respects the independent
judiciary of the Australian judicial system. I think we
would expect that the same from other countries,” he
told the public broadcaster.
No charges have yet been laid against the accused
employees, but China has told the Australian govern-
ment it has “sufficient evidence” that they stole state
secrets.
The detentions have sparked a diplomatic row be-
window of opportunity because of the significant tween the major trading partners, with Beijing earlier
liquidity and the rates are flatable for raising telling Canberra not to interfere after Prime Minister
finance. Kevin Rudd warned its economic interests were at
He said another factor was the rising trend stake.
of moving away from conventional bonds to Liu defended the decision to prosecute Hu and his
sukuk. colleagues, saying it was in the interests of overseas
Mohammed Rashdan said the investment businesses working in China.
bank is expected to make announcements on “By dealing with this case, we are really establishing
the negotiations with related GLCs in the second or we are really trying to establish a good environment
half of this year. for all companies in China – foreign companies operat-
“We have already done several billion. ing in China and local Chinese companies,” he told the
“We are looking at a few more billion into ABC.
the calendar year and hopefully several more Rio Tinto has said that reports its employees had
into our full financial year which will end on June bribed steel mill officials during tough iron ore contract
30,” he said when asked about the bond deals negotiations were “wholly without foundation”.
undertaken. China is the biggest buyer of iron ore in the world
He added that for the past three months, and is also Australia’s second-largest trading partner.
there had been a significant interest in terms of The value of two-way trade between the partners was
capital raising, the bulk of which was in sukuk. around A$68 billion (RM204 billion) last year. – AFP
– Bernama