22 theSun | THURSDAY OCTOBER 30 2008

business news Hang Seng

12,702.07
S&P/ASX200
3,845.6
TSEC
4,406.52
KLCI
829.41
STI
1,659.61
KOSPI
968.97 NIKKEI
8,211.90
3.03 6.88 30.19
105.78 51 6.55 589.98

KL market summary

Palm oil producers should INDICES

FBMEMAS
COMPOSITE
INDUSTRIAL
OCTOBER 29, 2008

5,411.69
829.41
2,031.18
CHANGE
-25.56
-3.03
+19.00

cut stock to stabilise prices

KUALA LUMPUR: The Associated
Chinese Chambers of Commerce
and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM)
yesterday asked major crude palm oil
producers -- Indonesia, Malaysia and
Thailand -- to reduce their stock by one
million to 1.5 million tonnes to stabilise
prices in the global market.
“At the current price, we are running
at cost. We are not making profit,” said
its president Tan Sri William Cheng on
the sidelines of a seminar themed “Is oil
palm still the glittering star?”.
Palm oil prices are currently hovering
at RM1,450 a tonne from the highest
price of over RM4,000 a tonne early this
year.
CONSUMER PROD 264.09 +1.94
INDUSTRIAL PROD 65.20 -0.17
CONSTRUCTION 135.43 -4.33
TRADING/SERVICES 118.01 -0.07
FINANCE 6,361.54 -17.67
PROPERTIES 495.72 -3.39
PLANTATIONS 3,131.67 +12.19
The cost of production is about end-users to reduce their cost indirectly,” MINING 239.12 +2.03
FBMSHA 5,595.93 -37.31
RM1,300 per tonne. he added. FBM2BRD 4,100.28 -118.31
Cheng said Indonesia, Malaysia and Cheng, however, said the slide in TECHNOLOGY 13.78 -0.17
Thailand have a combined crude palm crude palm oil prices was “temporary”
oil stock of about 6.5 million tonnes. and that the palm oil industry would still TURNOVER VALUE
“By lowering the stock, I hope prices have a bright future going forward. 650.626mil RM1.186bil
can stabilise at RM2,000 a tonne, at the “Malaysia’s cost of production is the
least,” he said. world’s lowest. If we sell at cost, others
The amount of CPO stock available will suffer the loss,” he added. Prices lower on profit-taking
can be used for bio-diesel production, The chambers said the price drop
ACCCIM said. could result in lower contribution SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia ended lower yesterday,
As for reducing production cost, the to Malaysia’s total exports and gross reversing early morning gains as investors took profit amid
chambers hoped fertiliser manufacturers domestic product (GDP). uncertainties in the global market, dealers said.
could reduce the prices. Crude palm oil, crude oil and gas They said the market started the day on a positive note
“They source raw materials from contributed about 15% to the country’s supported by buying interest in selected blue chips.
overseas where surcharges are generally exports and 9% to the GDP, it added. “Bargain hunting on selected blue chips pushed the key
about 60-70%. They pass on the cost to – Bernama index to open in a positive territory. However, the gains
were limited as short-term investors took profit by selling
into strength,” a dealer said.
At 5pm, the KLCI fell 3.03 points to 829.41.
Decliners led advancers by 392 to 295 while 202 counters
were unchanged, 445 untraded and 25 others suspended.
Topping the most active counters was IOI Corp which
added six sen to RM2.25.
Among other active counters, KNM shed two sen to 50
sen, Gamuda slipped five sen to RM1.35 and Resorts World
lost 20 sen to RM2.21.
The Second Board’s new entrant, Teo Seng Capital Bhd,
closed lower by nine sen to 36 sen. It had opened flat at
45 sen.
Of the heavyweights, Sime Darby rose 10 sen to RM5.90,
Public Bank added five sen to RM8.25 and MISC declined
five sen to RM8.10. Tenaga fell 15 sen to RM6, Maybank
was flat at RM5, and Bumiputra-Commerce lost five sen to
RM5.80. – Bernama

IDC sees slower

growth for mobile
DENIM
phone market
launches KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian market for mobile and
new hand-held phones this year is expected to record slower
growth due to creeping inflation and the increase in
attitude petrol prices.
pg 28 Research firm, IDC, said based on its Asia/Pacific
Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker (2nd quarter, 2008), the
total mobile and hand-held units shipment, excluding
parallel imports in Malaysia, would grow by 2.3% in
2008 to reach 4.8 million units, although the mobile
subscriber base was forecast to expand by 10.1%.
“We are optimistic the compound annual growth
rate (CAGR) for mobile phone and hand-held units ship-
ments in Malaysia will reach 5.3% over the next five
years, reaching six million units by 2012 despite the
slow growth forecast for this year,” it said in a statement
here yesterday.
Its telecommunication research associate analyst
for Malaysia, Chua Fong Yang, said the demand for
traditional mobile phones slowed immediately after
the government announced the 40% increase in petrol
price.
“Phones with a lower price band are particularly
impacted as people are prioritising their purchases due
to the rising prices of necessity good,” he said.
Chua said IDC predicted that over the next five
years, the growth of converged mobile phones in Ma-
laysia would outpace the growth of traditional mobile
phones.
“The 2008 to 2012 CAGR for
converged mobile phones is antici-
pated to reach 10.1% compared to
3.3% for traditional mobile phones,”
he said.
He said the declining average
selling value price of converged
mobile phones would help drive
their adoption rate among mobile
subscribers.
“In addition, the implemen-
tation of mobile number port-
ability services in Malaysia
will provide mobile phone
and hand-held vendors
with a new platform to
@ market and sell their
products,” he said.
– Bernama