Written by By Surin Murugiah & Ellina Badri
Friday, 25 September 2009 07:51
KUALA LUMPUR: The second day of losses on Wall Street could put a dampener again on key Asian markets on Friday, Sept 25 as commodities including oil and gold fell.
On Wall Street, signs of weakness in housing and investors' worries that authorities might be curbing stimulus efforts too soon sparked caution.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.42% to 9,707.44. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.95%, to 1,050.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 1.12% to 2,107.61.
US front-month crude fell 4.5%, or US$3.08, to settle at US$65.89 a barrel on Nymex while spot gold prices fell below US$1,000 an ounce.
At Bursa Malaysia, investors are likely to remain on the sidelines for now, with many people possibly still on an extended holiday post-Hari Raya celebrations.
Also, the lack of fresh leads offer not much excitement to a relatively muted market, albeit the FBM KLCI has held up fairly better in comparison to its regional peers.
The 30-stock FBM KLCI declined marginally on Sept 24, in tandem with most regional markets that slumped following the overnight fall at Wall Street. Still, analysts expect the market to trade range bound, at least until end of this month.
Stocks to watch on Friday include Kumpulan Jetson, New Straits Times Press (NSTP), Maybank and OilCorp.
The non-interested directors of KUMPULAN JETSON BHD [] (KJB) have advised shareholders to reject the conditional takeover offer by Superior Pavillion Sdn Bhd (SPSB) and Odyssey Wealth Sdn Bhd (OWSB) for the group's securities.
For more read, The Edge FinancialDaily.
However, the question now for the shareholders is whether they should take profit, based on their entry level, or should they await for a possible higher offer. Perhaps, the challenge for SPSB and Odyssey Wealth Sdn Bhd is how will they create more value for the company.
Media-related stocks could continue to be in focus, after NSTP hit a 26-month high following Macquarie Research upgrading the stock to outperform.
The research house had also said that MEDIA PRIMA BHD [] would be a key beneficiary of rising advertising spending (adex), while NSTP was expected to benefit from the shift in readership from English to Malay newspapers as advertisers increasingly take advantage of this trend.
Moody's Investors Service has revised the outlooks to stable from negative on Maybank's Bank Financial Strength Rating (BFSR), A1 long-term global local currency deposit (GLC) rating, and A3 foreign currency Tier 1 capital securities.
Maybank's P-1 local and foreign currency short-term deposit ratings, A3 foreign currency long-term deposit rating, and A3 foreign currency subordinated debt rating remain unaffected with stable outlooks.
The outlook change on Maybank's BFSR reflects the replenished state of its capital level, its improved NPL provision coverage and its dominant local franchise.
JOBSTREET CORPORATION BHD [] raised its stake in Taiwanese online recruitment outfit 104 Corp by an additional 5.35%.
The company, which now has 14.58% in 104 Corp, said the investment would enable it to further indirectly participate in the online recruitment market in Taiwan.
OilCorp could continue to see volatile trade, after two days of losses, closing near a six-month low of 19 sen on Thursday, Sept 24. It failed to meet its interest payment of RM1.64 million due and payable on Sept 17.
It lost 7.5 sen to end the day at 19 sen, It was the most active with 59.2 million shares done. On Wednesday, it fell five sen to 26.5 sen. Its market capitalisation has shrunk from RM68.05 million to RM41.71 million over the two-day period.
Friday, 25 September 2009 07:51
KUALA LUMPUR: The second day of losses on Wall Street could put a dampener again on key Asian markets on Friday, Sept 25 as commodities including oil and gold fell.
On Wall Street, signs of weakness in housing and investors' worries that authorities might be curbing stimulus efforts too soon sparked caution.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.42% to 9,707.44. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.95%, to 1,050.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 1.12% to 2,107.61.
US front-month crude fell 4.5%, or US$3.08, to settle at US$65.89 a barrel on Nymex while spot gold prices fell below US$1,000 an ounce.
At Bursa Malaysia, investors are likely to remain on the sidelines for now, with many people possibly still on an extended holiday post-Hari Raya celebrations.
Also, the lack of fresh leads offer not much excitement to a relatively muted market, albeit the FBM KLCI has held up fairly better in comparison to its regional peers.
The 30-stock FBM KLCI declined marginally on Sept 24, in tandem with most regional markets that slumped following the overnight fall at Wall Street. Still, analysts expect the market to trade range bound, at least until end of this month.
Stocks to watch on Friday include Kumpulan Jetson, New Straits Times Press (NSTP), Maybank and OilCorp.
The non-interested directors of KUMPULAN JETSON BHD [] (KJB) have advised shareholders to reject the conditional takeover offer by Superior Pavillion Sdn Bhd (SPSB) and Odyssey Wealth Sdn Bhd (OWSB) for the group's securities.
For more read, The Edge FinancialDaily.
However, the question now for the shareholders is whether they should take profit, based on their entry level, or should they await for a possible higher offer. Perhaps, the challenge for SPSB and Odyssey Wealth Sdn Bhd is how will they create more value for the company.
Media-related stocks could continue to be in focus, after NSTP hit a 26-month high following Macquarie Research upgrading the stock to outperform.
The research house had also said that MEDIA PRIMA BHD [] would be a key beneficiary of rising advertising spending (adex), while NSTP was expected to benefit from the shift in readership from English to Malay newspapers as advertisers increasingly take advantage of this trend.
Moody's Investors Service has revised the outlooks to stable from negative on Maybank's Bank Financial Strength Rating (BFSR), A1 long-term global local currency deposit (GLC) rating, and A3 foreign currency Tier 1 capital securities.
Maybank's P-1 local and foreign currency short-term deposit ratings, A3 foreign currency long-term deposit rating, and A3 foreign currency subordinated debt rating remain unaffected with stable outlooks.
The outlook change on Maybank's BFSR reflects the replenished state of its capital level, its improved NPL provision coverage and its dominant local franchise.
JOBSTREET CORPORATION BHD [] raised its stake in Taiwanese online recruitment outfit 104 Corp by an additional 5.35%.
The company, which now has 14.58% in 104 Corp, said the investment would enable it to further indirectly participate in the online recruitment market in Taiwan.
OilCorp could continue to see volatile trade, after two days of losses, closing near a six-month low of 19 sen on Thursday, Sept 24. It failed to meet its interest payment of RM1.64 million due and payable on Sept 17.
It lost 7.5 sen to end the day at 19 sen, It was the most active with 59.2 million shares done. On Wednesday, it fell five sen to 26.5 sen. Its market capitalisation has shrunk from RM68.05 million to RM41.71 million over the two-day period.