Written by Joseph Chin
Saturday, 21 August 2010 21:27
KUALA LUMPUR: The local market may trade in a tight range this coming week, starting Monday, Aug 23, with some downside due to concerns from a cautious Wall Street but this could be offset by the firm Malaysian corporate earnings including MALAYAN BANKING BHD [].
On Wall Street, US stocks slipped on Friday, Aug 20 and the S&P 500 and Dow fell for a second straight week on persistent concerns the recovery has tapered off. Even so, major indexes came off Friday's lows as some investors homed in on positive outlooks in the tech sector and used this week's M&A news as an excuse for late-day buying, according to Reuters.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 57.59 points, or 0.56 percent, to 10,213.62. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was off 3.94 points, or 0.37 percent, to 1,071.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.81 points, or 0.04 percent, to 2,179.76.
At Bursa Malaysia, investors would also want to see whether there could be extended follow-through buying interest and push the FBM KLCI past the crucial 1,400 level. However, the weaker broader market late last week could see the 30-stock index giving up some gains.
Stocks to watch on Monday are Focus Point Holdings Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd, SUNWAY CITY BHD [] and UMW HOLDINGS BHD [].
After an 11th hour pullout, Focus Point Holdings Bhd will finally be listed on the local exchange on Monday. To recap, Focus Point had deferred the listing following allegations made against the company that contact lenses prescribed and/or dispensed by personnel were not qualified to do so.
The listing exercise involved the public issue of 41.2 million new shares and offer for sale of up to 15.8 million existing shares at 20 sen each at an offer price of 39 sen.
The listing was derailed due to the emergence of a complaint made to the regulators on July 23 claiming, among other things, that contact lenses were prescribed or dispensed by personnel who were not qualified to do so.
Maybank reported net profit of RM912.47 million in the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2010 versus net loss of RM1.118 billion a year ago when it was affected by the RM1.97 billion impairment charge on its investment in Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) and MCB Bank.
Revenue dipped to RM4.73 billion versus RM4.85 billion. Earnings per share were 12.89 sen versus loss per share of 17.62 sen. Its pre-tax profit was RM1.36 billion versus a pre-tax loss of RM821.67 million. Maybank proposed a final dividend of 44 sen per share.
In Sunway City, the property developer posted net profit of RM71.66 million in its second quarter ended June 30, 2010 (2Q2010) on the back of a revenue of RM262.29 million.
The strong financial performance was underpinned by the group's core businesses being the property development and property investment segments. It declared an interim dividend of 31 sen per share.
UMW reported RM211.69 million in net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010 (2Q10). Earnings jumped 166.6% from RM79.43 million a year ago due to higher sales of Toyota and Perodua vehicles and favourable model mix.
The improved performance was driven by the equipment and manufacturing & engineering segments coupled with favourable foreign exchange rates, accounted for the significant improvement in profit for the current quarter.
UMW declared an interim single-tier dividend of 20% or 10 sen per share for the year ending Dec 31, 2010 – totaling net dividend payable of about RM114.5 million – to be paid on Oct 7.