Written by Surin Murugiah of theedgemalaysia.com
Tuesday, 28 December 2010 07:00
KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets, including Bursa Malaysia, are likely to trade cautiously on Tuesday, Dec 28 as investors start to assess the impact of China's interest rate hike on Christmas Day.
Chinese shares dropped 1.9% after thel People's Bank of China raised interest rates on Saturday for the second time in just over two months, according to Reuters.
Analysts expect more to come in 2011 as the Chinese authorities battle to keep a lid on inflation, which hit a 28-month high of 5.1% in November, it said. The direction of the Asian markets will also likely depend on how US markets react to the interest rate hike in China.
At Bursa Malaysia, stocks that could be in focus on Tuesday are Kulim (Malaysia) Bhd, QSR BRANDS BHD [], KFC Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) and SEALINK INTERNATIONAL BHD [].
Johor Corporation (JCorp) on Monday said it had no plans to sell its prized assets QSR Brands and KFC Holdings, which are held through its subsidiary Kulim.
Its president and chief executive Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassimsaid that QSR and KFC remained valuable and strategic assets for JCorp, and that it did not make sense to sell its core business.
MAHB is targeting earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of RM773.4 million; return on equity (ROE) of 10.73% and a top 5 worldwide ranking for KLIA in 2011.
Announcing its Headline Key Performance Indicators (Headline KPIs) for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2011 (FY2011) on Monday, MAHB said these targets were set based on MAHB's strategic plans and long term targets that were developed under MAHB's Five Year Business Direction (2010-2014) planning initiative — with emphasis on the broader internal initiatives that are put in place for FY2011.
PetChem informed Bursa Malaysia of a firethat occurred at about 11.35pm last Friday at the naptha hydrotreater unit at an aromatic plant within the Petronas Integrated Petrochemical Complex in Kertih, Terengganu.
Sealink's unit Sea Legend Shipping Sdn Bhd is subscribing for 250,000 shares or 25% equity interest in Logistine Sdn Bhd, which provides services to the oil and gas industry, for RM2 million cash.