Written by Joseph Chin
Thursday, 03 September 2009 07:49
KUALA LUMPUR: Stocks could find a firmer footing on Sept 3, as selling has eased slightly on Wall Street, with interest seen in key selected stocks including DRB Hicom, UMW, UBG and Bina Darulaman following fresh corporate news.
However, investors would have to watch the performance of key regional markets and the spillover impact. The local stock market has been not that badly impacted compared with the regional peers as it had not run up as much.
On Wall Street, stocks fell on Sept 2 as worries about the economy saw investors unload some shares for a fourth-straight day. This was despite that there were fewer private sector jobs in August than in July while companies planned fewer layoffs, suggesting modest improvement in the beleaguered U.S. labour market.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 29.93 points, or 0.32%, at 9,280.67. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 3.29 points, or 0.33%, to 994.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.82 points, or 0.09%, to 1,967.07.
Interest in DRB Hicom Bhd could perk up after it said the agreement between the local Chevrolet importer and General Motors Corporation (GM) was still intact, and that the parties are in talks for future distributorship.
DRB Hicom's statement was in response to news report that GM terminated its agreement with the former for the exclusive distribution of Chevrolet vehicles in Malaysia.
UMW is stepping up its steel pipes manufacturing after inking a non-competition and goodwill agreement with several Chinese partners. UMW will undertake a business plan and feasibility study to look into the viability of a JV company.
Meanwhile, UBG BHD [] is venturing into the oil and gas (O&G) sector via the acquisition of Pearl Thailand Holdings for US$19.2 million, which has offshore oil concessions in the Gulf of Thailand.
UBG group is involved in the infrastructure and CONSTRUCTION [] sectors as well as concession-based road maintenance.
BINA DARULAMAN BHD [] has received an interim letter of acceptance from Public Works Department for a RM330 million project to build the permanent campus for Kolej Universiti Insaniah in Kedah.