theSun | TUESDAY AUGUST 11 2009 17

1,188  3.12
S 10,524.26 S
112.17
business KLCI
STI CLOSED
Nikkei
TSEC 6,882.87 S
14.22
Hang Seng 20,929.52 554.15
S KOSPI 1,576.11  0.11
S
SCI 3,249.76 T
10.93 S&P/ASX200 4,304.10  4.70
S

KL market summary
AUGUST 10, 2009
CI up with focus on mid-cap, low-price counters
INDICES CHANGE
FBMEMAS 8,051.81 +30.82
SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia ended Data released last Friday showed US em-
FBM-KLCI 1,188.00 +3.12 higher yesterday with buying interests cen- ployers cut 247,000 jobs in July after shedding
INDUSTRIAL 2,608.76 -2.09 tred on mid-cap and low-priced counters, a revised 443,000 a month earlier, adding that
CONSUMER PROD 357.91 +1.83 dealers said. the drop was less severe than the 275,000 fall
INDUSTRIAL PROD 92.32 +0.36 The FBM KLCI rose 3.12 points, or 0.263%, forecast by economists.
CONSTRUCTION 231.21 +0.77 to close at 1,188. It moved between 1,182.45 Lee expected the market to remain at the
TRADING SERVICES 156.82 +0.64
and 1,191 amid slow trading in blue-chips on current level, adding that it would increase
FINANCE 9,716.79 +27.76
lack of strong fresh leads except the positive between two and three points today.
PROPERTIES
PLANTATIONS
793.64
5,766.35
+12.54
+14.87 jobs data from the US. Advancers outnumbered decliners by 415 EXCHANGE RATES August 10, 2009
MINING 354.63 +4.06 Maybank Investment Bank Bhd head of to 266 while 218 counters were unchanged
FBMSHA 8,277.26 +37.82 retail research, Lee Cheng Hooi, said investor and 364 untraded. Foreign currency Bank sell Bank buy Bank buy
FBMACE 4,177.90 -66.65 interests were seen in industrial, property Leading the actives, KNM Group slipped
TECHNOLOGY 16.93 +0.18 TT/OD TT OD
and financial-related counters. “The market one sen to 82.5 sen, Land & General rose
1 US DOLLAR 3.5380 3.4730 3.4630
TURNOVER VALUE remains strong as anticipation of a better set three sen to 32 sen, Hexza Corp increased
of unemployment figures in the US on Friday 6.5 sen to 68 sen, Jotech Holdings was flat at 1 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR 3.0000 2.8690 2.8530
862.677bil RM1.285bil
kept participants in buying mood.” 9.5 sen. – Bernama 1 BRUNEI DOLLAR 2.4670 2.4060 2.3980
1 CANADIAN DOLLAR 3.2770 3.1970 3.1850
1 EURO 5.0370 4.9150 4.8950
1 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR 2.4110 2.3050 2.2890

‘Confidence up but trading

1 PAPUA N GUINEA KINA 1.4530 1.2110 1.1950
1 SINGAPORE DOLLAR 2.4665 2.4060 2.3980
1 STERLING POUND 5.9230 5.7780 5.7580
1 SWISS FRANC 3.2810 3.2010 3.1860
100 ARAB EMIRATES DIRHAM 98.0400 92.8500 92.6500
100 BANGLADESH TAKA 5.3400 5.2100 5.0100

conditions still tough’

ACCA SAYS PANIC NO LONGER MAJOR DRIVER OF GLOBAL ECONOMY
KUALA LUMPUR: Economic
recovery should be possible
within the next 18 months,
according to a global survey of
finance professionals by ACCA
(the Association of Chartered
Certified Accountants).
Optimism continued to
depend substantially on the
actions of national govern-
ments, but the reliance on state
assistance has dissipated since
the Q1 survey and business
confidence is now more clearly
linked to expectations of future
growth.
According to ACCA, these
are tentative signs that panic is
no longer a major driver of the
global economy.
The ACCA Global Economic
Conditions Survey for Q2, 2009
indicates the loss of business
confidence has slowed substan-
tially, coming to a halt in key
areas such as the Asia-Pacific
region and even reversing in
key sectors such as small- and
medium-sized enterprises and
large financial services firms.
Sixty-four per cent of the
finance professionals surveyed
said they thought the global
economy had bottomed out,
twice as many who responded
in Q1, 2009. More than a third
of respondents now expect a
recovery within the next 12
months.
However, one in 10 still ex-
pect the downturn to last three
years or longer, and this view is
twice as common among public
sector accountants.
On a regional basis, Western
European finance profession-
als are more pessimistic about
the recovery, while African
professionals are most
likely to believe conditions
are improving, albeit weakly.
Respondents from Asia Pacific
are more likely to think the
worst is behind them and are
expecting a speedier recovery.
Despite this largely positive
100 CHINESE RENMINBI
100 DANISH KRONE
100 HONGKONG DOLLAR
100 INDIAN RUPEE
100 INDONESIAN RUPIAH
100 JAPANESE YEN
N/A
69.6800
46.4600
7.7000
0.0373
3.6520
N/A
64.0100
44.0000
7.0700
0.0314
3.5630
N/A
63.8100
43.8000
6.8700
0.0264
3.5530
100 NEW TAIWAN DOLLAR N/A N/A N/A
100 NORWEGIAN KRONE 59.8100 54.8900 54.6900
shift in perceptions, the survey regulation, especially of finan- 100 PAKISTAN RUPEE 4.3900 4.0700 3.8700
of 546 ACCA members in 77 cial institutions;
countries shows that trading » Tighter credit conditions; 100 PHILIPPINE PESO 7.5500 7.0800 6.8800
conditions improved only mar- » Increased efficiency, as or- 100 QATAR RIYAL 98.6700 93.8600 93.6600
ginally in the three months to ganisations look inward for cost 100 SAUDI RIYAL 95.8100 91.1400 90.9400
May 2009. savings and more efficient ways 100 SOUTH AFRICAN RAND 45.6100 41.9400 41.7400
Nearly two-thirds (68%) saw of doing business; 100 SRI LANKA RUPEE 3.1800 2.9200 2.7200
revenues fall in their organisa- » Stronger governance and 100 SWEDISH KRONA 51.2400 45.5700 46.3700
tion or for their clients and 62% internal business controls; and
witnessed staff cuts and hiring » Consumers expected to 100 THAI BAHT 11.1600 9.4600 9.0600
freezes. become cautious net savers. Source: Malayan Banking Berhad/Bernama
There are other areas of con- Dr Steve Priddy, ACCA’s
cern – more businesses reported director of Technical Policy and
problems securing prompt Research, said: “While there China property sales soar,
payment. Fewer respondents
now expect their organisation’s
is little evidence of economic
recovery, there is renewed
triggering bubble fears
income to fall in the next quar- confidence and optimism. Our BEIJING: Property sales in China have soared by over
ter, these still outnumber those next quarterly survey will look 60% so far this year, the government said yesterday,
expecting an increase in income for real changes in trading triggering fears of emerging asset bubbles.
by more than two to one (42% conditions which support that In the first seven months of the year, sales of all
against 18%). viewpoint and whether the property were up 60.4% from the same period a year
Finally, the latest survey private sector is backing its con- ago, while housing sales increased by 65.3%, the
asked finance professionals to fidence by investing in people National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement on
predict what the global econo- and capital – or whether public its website.
my would look like following sector finance professionals are “The real estate market has entered into a quite
the credit crunch. Respondents right to think that the global sensitive period now and bubbles have risen in some
offered the following: economy has some way to go regions,” Qin Rui, an analyst with house agency 5j5j in
» Stricter and more pervasive before recovery begins.” Beijing, told AFP.

Rio Tinto ‘spying’ cost China

US$100b: State bureau
SHANGHAI: China’s state se-
crets watchdog has accused
Australian mining giant Rio
Tinto of conducting up to six
years of corporate espionage,
costing the country 700 billion
yuan (RM357 billion).
Rio Tinto allegedly stole
state secrets to gain the upper
hand in iron ore price talks
and force China to pay what
it says were excessive prices,
according to a report published
on a website run by the State
Secrets Bureau.
This amounted to “black-
mail” costing more than 500
yuan for each of China’s 1.3 bil-
lion people, wrote the report’s
author, Jiang Ruqin, a former
local state secrets bureau
director in Jiangsu province,
next to Shanghai.
“It also meant that China
gave away more than US$100
billion (RM350 billion), or
around 10% of Australia’s gross
domestic product, for free to
employers of the commercial
spies,” Jiang wrote.
He gave no explanation of
how he arrived at the calcula-
tions.
The report, which was post-
ed on Saturday, appeared to no
longer be accessible yesterday
afternoon. The operators of the
website Baomi.org, however,
denied the report had been
removed when contacted by
AFP.
Chinese authorities de-
tained Australian citizen Stern
Hu and three other Shanghai-
based Rio employees on July 5,
accusing them of bribery and
stealing state secrets during
iron ore contract negotiations.
Rio said last month the
accusations were “wholly
without foundation”.
“The large amount of data
and intelligence on China’s
steel sector found on Rio Tinto’s
computers and the huge dam-
age to the economic interests
and security of the country are
evident,” the report said.
The bureau is responsible for
protecting the state secrets of
China’s government and Com-
munist Party organisations.
The report said “this six-
year espionage case involved
corruption, information gather-
ing and spying”.
Under China’s broad state
secrets laws, any commercial
information from a state-owned
enterprise that is shared with a
foreign party can be considered
a state secret, experts say.
In SYDNEY, the Australian
government said yesterday
the Chinese allegations were
not new.
Foreign Minister Stephen
Smith played down the claims
as an analyst said the row over
China’s arrest of a Rio worker
for spying was growing “more
serious by the day”.
The latest claims also
caused Rio shares to plunge
more than 3% in Sydney trad-
ing yesterday.
“The allegations referred to
on the (website) ... are not new,”
a spokeswoman for Smith said,
adding: “The government has
always said the Stern Hu case
was complex and involved
serious allegations.” – AFP