28 theSun | FRIDAY OCTOBER 24 2008

business news Hang Seng

13,760.59
S&P/ASX200
3,974.4
TSEC
4,730.51
KLCI
891.32
STI
1,745.67
KOSPI
1,049.71
Nikkei
8,460.98
506.11 181.7 132.08 12.96 75.46 84.88 213.71

KL market summary
OCTOBER 23, 2008

Govt to review policy on

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is reviewing
the current policy on the iron and steel industry INDICES CHANGE
in line with the objectives outlined under the Third FBMEMAS 5,882.39 - 72.81
Industrial Master Plan (IMP3), Deputy International COMPOSITE 891.32 - 12.96
Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Jacob Dungau INDUSTRIAL 2,108.97 -30.23
Sagan said. CONSUMER PROD 276.38 -1.38
He said the reason for reviewing the policy INDUSTRIAL PROD 69.81 -1.29

iron and steel industry

CONSTRUCTION 151.19 -2.54
among others, is to support Malaysia’s commit-
TRADING SERVICES 124.81 -1.47
ment towards the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) FINANCE 6,851.72 -130.48
and for the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta). PROPERTIES 538.47 -9.72
Jacob said the FTAs not only provides market PLANTATIONS 3,688.62 -111.41
access opportunities for the metal sector but also MINING 261.41 +8.10
a more predictable environment for investment. FBMSHA 6,101.38 -86.92
“Malaysia’s bilateral FTA negotiations with FBM2BRD 4,365.15 -78.58
proposals from the industry for products to be He encouraged Malaysians to consume local
TECHNOLOGY 15.23 -0.39
Chile, India, the United States, Australia and New imposed with a mandatory Malaysian standard.” steel products in order to assist the development
Zealand is in progress. We have concluded and According to Jacob, metal products which of the domestic industry. TURNOVER VALUE
implemented bilateral FTAs with Japan and Paki- do not have this standard will now have to con- He revealed that overall, the metal industry 579.384mil RM1.043bil
stan,” he said at the official opening of the Metal sider adopting international standards to be made had recorded an improved performance last year
Technology Show 2008 here yesterday. mandatory by the government. with the production in iron and steel products
He said together with other Asean members,
Malaysia is also negotiating FTAs with the Euro-
pean Union, India, Australia and New Zealand.
“Currently, the domestic steel industry faces
new challenges. Some of these relate to the de-
crease in local production and sales due to a drop
increasing by 7% to 11.3 million metric tonnes.
The export of iron and steel products also grew
at 12.4% to RM10.5 billion, while approved invest-
Bursa ends
“To ensure that tariff liberalisation does not
result in the importation of products of substand-
in domestic demand and consumption,” he said,
adding that the government is also considering
ments registered an increase with 37 projects
valued at RM12 billion approved last year, he said.
broadly lower
ard quality, the government is also considering various options to resolve the current situation. – Bernama SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia ended the
day broadly lower yesterday as sentiment
weakened regionally amid worries of a global

Bursa wants more products traded on exchange
by Himanshu Bhatt
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
GEORGE TOWN: Bursa Malaysia
Bhd wants to take advantage of the
global economic crisis by drawing
more products to be traded on the
exchange.
Its CEO Datuk Yusli Mohamed
Yusoff said new products being
tapped include commodities related
to derivatives, Islamic capital markets
and exchange-traded funds.
“If you look at the crisis that we
have today, a lot of the problems
came from products that were not
traded on the exchanges, and so
they were not regulated,” he said.
“We want to promote more prod-
ucts to be traded on the exchange
where there is more transparency
and better regulation.”
He said exchange-traded products
tend to be safer because they are
subject to more reporting require-
ments, and more transparency in
terms of information for investors.
Yusli denied that many domestic
companies are leaving to trade in
foreign exchanges due to tight regu-
lations in Malaysia.
Stressing that the Bursa practised
rules benchmarked against other
markets, he said the number of com-
panies leaving was very small.
“Generally, local investors are
more familiar with the market
here.”
He said Bursa also plans to imple-
ment a new Direct Market Access
system to allow trade orders to be
made on real-time basis.
Yusli said this during a press
conference at the launching of the
MIA-Bursa Business Conference
by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng at
Equatorial Hotel here.
The conference was organised
by Malaysian Institute of Architects
(MIA) and Bursa Malaysia. Also
present was MIA president Nik Mohd
Hasyudeen Yusoff.
Earlier, in his speech, Yusli had
stressed Bursa planned to increase
its competitiveness through new
products, better market access and
enhanced infrastructures.
He noted that the global economy
is headed towards slower growth in
the medium-term. However, he said
the direct impact of the global finan-
cial storm on Malaysia is very lim-
ited due to the domestic economy’s
minimal exposure to US sub-prime
mortgage market.
“Our economy has demonstrated
a high degree of resilience so far,
compared to regional counterparts.”
“The current financial crisis offers
opportunities for strong companies
to buy into good assets at attractive
prices.”
financial downturn, said dealers.
They said selling was moderate and inves-
tors were reluctant to hold fresh positions
ahead of the long weekend with the Deepavali
celebration on Monday. The benchmark KLCI
slipped 12.96 points to end the session at
891.32, the lowest point since mid-2006.
“Foreign investors were the net sellers in
most Asian markets. They are holding back
their portfolio investments at the moment,
waiting to see the finances of their respective
countries in order first,” said a dealer.
According to the dealers, plantations stocks
were the most hit after global crude palm oil
slipped to RM1,500 per tonne.
Leading the actives was Lion Industries
which eased 4.5 sen to 54.5 sen. Among oth-
ers, KNM Group shed 3.5 sen to 59.5 sen, IOI
Corp slipped two sen to RM3.02, Intelligent
Edge fell half a sen to 5.5 sen and Sime Darby
erased 10 sen to RM6.25. – Bernama