Economy
US: Federal Reserve considers revamping main rate calculation. The Federal Reserve is considering changing the way it calculates its main policy interest rate by including a broader range of transactions, said Dennis Lockhart, president of the Atlanta Fed. The federal funds rate, currently calculated on the basis of brokered trades of overnight loans of reserves between banks, would also include direct trades, Lockhart said. Adding Eurodollar transactions is also a “possibility,” he said. Broadening the number and variety of transactions used to calculate the federal funds rate would provide a more accurate picture of interbank lending activity. (Bloomberg)US: Fed Presidents differ on timing for raising interest rate. Federal Reserve presidents disagreed today on whether a decline in the US unemployment rate to the lowest level in almost six years warrants advancing the timing for an interest-rate increase. Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said the Fed risks losing credibility by waiting too long to raise rates, and economic data are already suggesting a need to tighten policy. Chicago’s Charles Evans and Atlanta’s Dennis Lockhart countered that low inflation and labor-market slack will allow the central bank to wait until the second half of 2015 or 2016. Plosser, speaking in a Bloomberg Television interview with Michael McKee in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, said “we are closer than a lot of people might think” to the first interest-rate increase since 2006. (Bloomberg)
EU: Draghi seen delivering almost USD1trn to banks in ECB offer. Mario Draghi’s newest stimulus tool will hand banks more than EUR700bn (USD950bn) of cheap funding, economists say. The European Central Bank president’s targeted lending program for banks will boost credit for the real economy as planned, and at the same time help keep the financial system flush with cash, according to the Bloomberg Monthly Survey of 45 economists. Draghi may address the topic today when he testifies at the European Parliament in Strasbourg for the first time since elections in May. The ECB has identified lending to companies and households as a key weakness in the euro area’s fragile recovery. The so-called TLTRO program, part of a wider package of measures announced in June, offers as much as four years of low-cost funding tied to bank lending that Draghi said this month could ultimately provide as much as EUR1trn. (Bloomberg)
UK: Juncker record shows he comes to praise not bury Britain in EU. Jean-Claude Juncker wants to dismantle barriers to business in the European Union market, is a longstanding fan of the bloc’s expansion to the east, and opposes a centralized European superstate. All are classic British positions, and Juncker, a former prime minister of Luxembourg who faces a confirmation vote tomorrow as the next European Commission president, also favors making concessions to Britain to keep it in the EU. That didn’t stop UK Prime Minister David Cameron from trying to derail his appointment to the top EU post and Britain’s tabloid Sun newspaper branding him “the most dangerous man in Europe.” A look at 59-year-old Juncker’s record suggests otherwise. Through more than 30 years in government, almost 19 of them as prime minister, punching above tiny Luxembourg’s weight with his role in creating the euro in the 1990s and defending it in the debt crisis, a picture emerges of the consummate political fixer, not the euro-dreamer he is made out to be. (Bloomberg)
China: Targets 30% new government vehicles use alternative energy. China is mandating that at least 30% of new government vehicles be powered by alternative energy by 2016 in the government’s latest salvo to combat pollution and reduce energy dependence. At least 15% of new vehicles will use new energy this year in areas such as Beijing and the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, the government said. New energy is a term used for electric cars, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles. China’s leaders led by Premier Li Keqiang are intensifying a “war” on pollution after smog levels hit hazardous levels in the nation’s capital last winter. The government has identified electric vehicles as a strategic industry to help it gain global leadership, reduce energy dependence and cut emissions as it pledges to remove polluting cars from the road that have contributed to worsening air pollution. (Bloomberg)
South Korea: Park risks losing support for South Korea stimulus as vote looms. South Korean President Park Geun Hye’s plans to stimulate the country’s economy are in jeopardy as her ruling party faces a fight to hold on to its parliamentary majority in upcoming by-elections. Park’s Saenuri party must win at least four of the 15 seats being contested at the country’s biggest special poll on July 30 at a time when her approval rating has slumped, hitting a record low of 40% at the start of this month from 61% in March, according to a Gallup Korea poll released on July 4. Park wants to boost the nation’s growth rate to 4 percent and the employment rate to 70% by encouraging more entrepreneurship in Asia’s fourth largest economy, which is expanding slower than forecast. Incoming Finance Minister Choi Kyung Hwan has pledged to consider all possible steps to boost growth, including an extra budget that hasn’t got the support of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy. (Bloomberg)
Markets
Wah Seong (Outperform, TP: RM2.60): To revisit demerger plan. Wah Seong Corp may revive a plan to demerge its core O&G business next year now that its various units are on stronger footing, says deputy MD Giancarlo Maccagno. “We are constantly reviewing this proposal and will proceed if it can unlock value. “It makes sense to run the businesses separately because there isn’t much operational synergy between the O&G and non-O&G units.” The demerger, which had been mooted in 2005, was shelved just months before the listing was to have taken place in the first quarter of 2012. (StarBiz)Boustead Plantations: Banks on Klang Valley, Johor land potential. Newly-listed Boustead Plantations is sitting on thousands of acres of landbank in the Klang Valley and Johor that the group may consider converting into townships once its oil palm estates are past their prime. Although it has yet to firm up any plans, Boustead Plantations vice chairman Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin told that the group’s 4,047ha in Desaru and 567ha in Kulai, both in Johor, and less than 405ha in Balau, Semenyih, have medium to long term potential for property development. (StarBiz)
L&G: On course to RM500m market cap. Land & General (L&G)’s aim of becoming a mid to large-tier property player is near realisation as the group believes it could exceed the RM500m market capitalisation mark before the year-end or early 2015. The management believes that its irredeemable convertible unsecured loan stocks issued in Sep last year will boost the group’s market cap in time. Within the next 12 months, it plans to roll out properties worth RM2bn in GDV. (StarBiz)
Sumatec: To buy Kazakhstan firm for RM800m. Sumatec Resources signed a framework agreement with Abu Talib Abdul Rahman and Dr Murat Safin for the proposed acquisition of 100% interest in Borneo Energy Oil and Gas Ltd valued at USD250m (RM800m). Sumatec said the framework agreement gave Sumatec access to all data and information regarding parties and assets under the proposed acquisition for technical, legal and financial due diligence purposes. Subject to satisfactory results from due diligence studies, a S&P agreement was expected to be executed within six months, and would be satisfied in cash and shares. (StarBiz)
MAHB: Asian airport job on radar. Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB) is in talks for a new concession to build and operate an Asian airport as it ramps up its overseas operations. According to sources close to MAHB, the company is positive of securing the deal within the next six to nine months. Negotiations are ongoing and it is beyond the preliminary stage,” a source told. The source could not elaborate on the negotiations due to the sensitivity of the issue. (Business Times)
BDB: Acquires 485ha in Kedah. Bina Darulaman (BDB) is strengthening its property activities in Kedah through the acquisition of a total of 485ha in five districts for more than RM200m. Following the signing of heads of agreement with its holding company Kedah State Development Corp (PKNK) yesterday, BDB is set to increase its total landbank in the state to about 1,092ha. BDB group MD Datuk Izham Yusof said the acquisition was in line with its plans to increase its landbank in Kedah as property development was a major contributor to group revenue and earnings. Izham said the focus would be on residential projects. (Business Times)
MARKET UPDATE
Ahead of a holiday tomorrow, the FBM KLCI might be trading sideways today on absence of market leads. At the market close of Friday, the US markets ended higher amid abating concerns about the potential fallout from the financial troubles at a bank in Portugal. However, the main indices on Wall Street still recorded losses for the week with the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 28.74 points or 0.2% to 16,943.81, but ended the week with 0.7% loss. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 closed up 2.89 points or 0.2% to 1,967.57(-0.9% WoW) and the Nasdaq Composite added 19.29 points or 0.4% higher at 4,415.49 (-1.6% Wow). The weekly losses for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were the biggest since April. Investors’ focus now has shifted to corporate earnings in the US, with many see the earnings season as barometer to judge if the good stock performance thus far is justified, with recent new highs and Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting new record of 17,000.Across the Atlantic, most of the European stocks rebounded from the five-day losing streak which was exacerbated by the banking tumult in Portugal. Among the country-specific performance, the France’s CAC 40 gained 0.4% to 4,316.50, Germany’s DAX 30 added 0.1% at 9,666.34 and the UK’s FTSE 100 index moved up 0.3% to 6,690.17. Back home, the bellwether index FBM KLCI closed down by 9.47 to 1883.15, dragged by CIMB which was slapped with 24 sen loss to RM7.00 after it announced the merger with RHB Capital and Malaysia Building Society (MBSB). The market tone was negative with decliners leading gainers by 533 to 289, with 2.04b shares changed hands valued at RM2.45bn. Across the region, the performance was mixed with Nikkei Average down by 0.3%, Hang Seng Index ended flat, Shanghai Composite Index added 0.4%, S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.4% and Kospi eased by 0.7%.
Among the stocks that might added trading interest include: 1) Tradewinds, following the news that its if working with Emaar to develop a property project worth some RM18bn in Iskandar; and 2) Malaysia Airports Holdings, which is said in talk for a new concession to build and operate an Asian Airport.
Source: PublicInvest Research - 14 Jul 2014
| Share this | 
|
Related Stocks
| Chart | Stock Name | Last | Change | Volume |
 |
WASEONG | 1.88 | -0.03 (1.57%) | 193,600 |
 |
BPLANT | 1.61 | +0.01 (0.63%) | 531,900 |
 |
L&G | 0.56 | +0.015 (2.75%) | 7,702,600 |
 |
SUMATEC | 0.42 | +0.045 (12.00%) | 386,468,500 |
 |
AIRPORT | 8.47 | -0.03 (0.35%) | 130,000 |
 |
BDB | 2.20 | 0.00 (0.00%) | 0 |
没有评论:
发表评论