Written by Joyce Goh
Wednesday, 24 February 2010 07:38
KUALA LUMPUR: Key regional markets may decline on Wednesday, Feb 24 as investors turn cautious after US stocks suffered their biggest one-day decline in nearly three weeks.
However, on Bursa, the stronger corporate earnings, especially from CIMB Group, should provide stability to the market. Bank Negara will release its fourth quarter GDP data this evening, which should prove the economy is on the path to recovery.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 100.97 points, or 0.97 percent, to 10,282.41. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gave up 13.41 points, or 1.21 percent, at 1,094.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index was off 28.59 points, or 1.28 percent, to 2,213.44.
Reuters reported the fall on Wall Street was attributed to a sharp drop in consumer confidence which heightened worries over one of the most vulnerable areas of the economy.
Stocks to watch are CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, TENAGA NASIONAL BHD [], Titan Chemicals Corp Bhd, MALAYSIAN RESOURCES CORP [] Bhd (MRCB), PLUS EXPRESSWAYS BHD [] and Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O.
CIMB Group reported its best-ever results where its net profit more than doubled to RM802.89 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2009 (4QFY09) from RM318.6 million a year earlier, helping it to record its best-ever yearly financial performance.
Revenue surged 47.87% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM2.78 billion and the figure for the full fiscal year crossed the RM10 billion mark for the first time, at RM10.67 billion, growing 37.8% y-o-y.
Tenaga will come under investors' radar screen as the CAbinet dicusses the proposal for a power rate hike at its meeting today. If approved, the new tariff should come into effect in March.
Titan Chemicals put up a strong performance with net profit of RM76.28 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2009 (4Q09) compared with a net loss of RM474.06 million a year ago.
Titan Chemicals benefited from lower operating expenses, which declined to RM1.45 billion from RM1.71 billion a year ago, while there was also higher operating income from other sources and lower finance costs.
MRCB reported a net profit of RM12.41 million for the fourth quarter (4Q) ended Dec 31, 2009 from a net loss of RM39.3 million a year earlier due to an overall improvement in operational results.
PLUS Expressways Bhd saw it's toll revenue -- comprising of toll collection and toll compensation -- rising 7.11% to RM3.179 billion in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2009 (FY09) from RM2.967 billion a year ago in FY08 following the increase in traffic volume. FY09 net profit was RM1.186 billion compared with RM1.079 billion.
E&O sustained its turnaround, posting a net profit of RM10.49 million in its third quarter ended Dec 31, 2009 versus a net loss of RM4.38 million a year earlier.
CBS TECHNOLOGY [] BHD [] also posted best-ever results with a net profit of RM4.3 million for its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2009 compared with RM696,000 net profit a year before. This was a 518% increase in its bottomline.
LCL Corp Bhd continued to bleed in its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2009 (4QFY09), with its net loss widening to RM334.7 million from RM17.4 million a year earlier.
InsiderAsia remains upbeat on the longer-term prospects for Green Packet (RM1.12). The company was still loss-making in the latest 4QFYDec2009. But this was within expectations given the high upfront costs for its broadband business.
It said Green Packet is optimistic that it will gradually pare losses on the back of increasing subscriber numbers over the coming months. Indeed, if all goes to plan, Green Packet expects to be profitable at the operational level (before depreciation charges) towards the later part of this year.