Written by Ellina Badri & Lam Jian Wyn
Tuesday, 06 April 2010 07:04
KUALA LUMPUR: Stocks on Bursa Malaysia are expected to advance on Tuesday, April 6, buoyed by gains on Wall Street and firmer regional markets while oil and gas stocks could see rising interest.
U.S. stocks rose on Monday, April 5 pushing the Dow up near the 11,000 level, as signs of a turnaround in the U.S. labour market bolstered hopes the economy is strengthening and the profit outlook is brightening, according to Reuters.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 46.48 points, or 0.43 percent, to end at 10,973.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 9.34 points, or 0.79 percent, to finish at 1,187.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index shot up 26.95 points, or 1.12 percent, to 2,429.53.
The S&P 500 is now up 75.5 percent from its bottom in early March 2009.
Stocks to watch on Bursa Malaysia include RAMUNIA HOLDINGS BHD [], SIME DARBY BHD [], DAYANG ENTERPRISE HOLDINGS BHD [], PETRA PERDANA BHD [], CIMB Bhd and Wah Seong. Also in focus could be related oil and gas companies on rising oil prices.
AmInvestment Bank Bhd will list four new European style cash-settled call warrants (CWs), over the underlying stocks of ANN JOO RESOURCES BHD [] (ANNJOO CW), Berjaya Corp Bhd (BJCORP CW), WAH SEONG CORPORATION BHD [] (WASEONG CW) and Genting Singapore plc (GENS CW).
Sime Darby Bhd’s Sime Darby Engineering Sdn Bhd had finally completed the acquisition of the 170-acre Teluk Ramunia fabrication yard in Johor from Ramunia Holdings Bhd.
The boost to its own fabrication yard will allow it to "enhance its competitive edge when bidding for local and international contracts in the future while positioning itself to undertake deep water fabrication structures".
In Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd, Vogue Enterprise Sdn Bhd disposed of five million shares or 1.42% on April 2. This saw its direct stake reduced to 47.559 million shares.
In Petra Perdana Bhd, Permodalan Nasional Bhd bought 7.02 million shares on March 30, raising its stake to 24.44 million shares or 8.21%. The acquisition was also seen as PNB’s confidence in the company after the boardroom battle had been resolved.
Oil and gas (O&G) services company Wah Seong Corp Bhd rose to a two-year high of RM2.77 in intra-day trading on April 5 on news that the results of its bid to acquire Italian pipe-coating company Socotherm SpA would be made known in May.
CIMB Group Holdings Bhd said it has received Bank Negara Malaysia’s nod for its proposed dual listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. 50 million new CIMB shares will be issued under the IPO, which will be Thailand’s first foreign listing.
Kulim (Malaysia) Bhd yesterday confirmed a report by The Edge weekly that it had received and was currently evaluating several bids from third parties interested in buying its 91.38% stake in Natural Oleochemicals Sdn Bhd. It said it would make the appropriate announcements regarding a sale of the business in due course.
PCCS GROUP BHD [] is planning to sell off its HK unit which deals in the packaging business to concentrate on its core business of manufacturing and marketing apparel. If it succeeds in sealing the deal by this third quarter, it should also be able to settle most of its debts and inter-company loans.
BOUSTEAD HOLDINGS BHD [] is looking to dispose of its partially planted 17,000ha oil palm land in Sumatera, Indonesia for logistical reasons, with about US$50 million (RM162 million) being a favourable price for the tract, said its managing director Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin