Written by Joy Lee
Friday, 07 May 2010 07:53
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KUALA LUMPUR: Investors and traders will have to brace for another volatile day on Friday, May 7 after the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 1,000 points in intra-day trade.
Reports said panic selling swept US markets following the record plunge before recouping more than half those losses. It was unclear whether the sudden sell-off, the Dow's biggest ever intra-day drop, was the result of fears over the Greek debt crisis, a mistaken trade or a technical error.
At the close, the Dow had recovered to 10,520.32, down 347.80 (3.20 percent), while the Nasdaq was down 82.65 points (3.44 percent) at 2,319.64. The Standard & Poors 500 Index was down 37.72 points (3.24 percent) to 1,128.15.
At Bursa Malaysia, stocks to watch are gaming companies including BERJAYA SPORTS TOTO BHD [] and MULTI-PURPOSE HOLDINGS BHD [] (MPHB) which operates numbers forecast operations via Magnum Corp.
The government is studying the possibility of issuing football betting licences in view of the 2010 World Cup to prevent illegal betting and gaming activities from becoming rampant in the country.
Other stocks include UNISEM (M) BHD [], SIME DARBY BHD [], MISC BHD [], TELEKOM MALAYSIA BHD [], Multi Sports Holdings Ltd and FRASER & NEAVE HOLDINGS BHD [].
Unisem’s share price fell as much as 10.5% despite a stronger set of first quarter (1Q) earnings on Thursday. The counter came under selling pressure in line with the weaker market on concerns of the contagion effect from Greece’s sovereign debt crisis and Unisem’s foreign exchange (forex) losses amounting to RM30.94 million.
Sime Darby said that a taskforce was investigating the business operations and challenges faced by its energy and utilities (E&U) division with reference to reports of cost overruns incurred by the division in Qatar and Bakun.
The company had reportedly posted cost overruns as high as RM1.7 billion on the Bakun hydroelectric project, in which Sime Engineering, a unit of Sime Darby, is involved in constructing the main civil works.
Telekom Malaysia intends to spend up to RM300 million over three years to acquire more channel offerings for its Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) content offered under its UniFi – High Speed Broadband package offering.
MISC reported a net profit of RM196.4 million for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010 (4QFY10), up 36.5% year-on-year from RM143.9 million, underpinned by its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and offshore businesses. The company is also expanding its heavy engineering business which is expected to contribute positively to the group's performance.
Chinese shoe sole-maker Multi Sports has proposed a renounceable rights issue of 90 million new shares to raise up to RM36 million to fund their expansion plans. The company will be using up to RM35 million from the proceeds of the rights issue to construct the new facilities in Fujian Province, China.
F&N net profit for the second quarter ended March 31, 2010 (2QFY10) jumped 60% to RM85.2 million from RM53.3 million a year ago on the back of a 7% rise in revenue to RM1 billion from RM938.5 million.
The company said revenue growth was driven by strong festive sales in soft drinks and improved sales in the glass division.
Soft drinks revenue improved by 19% during the quarter with all main product portfolios registering strong volume growth on the back of strong execution during the pre-festive run up. Meanwhile, revenue for the glass division grew 14% on higher sales volume in Vietnam and Thailand.
Earnings per share rose to 23.9 sen from 15 sen in the previous corresponding quarter. F&N proposed an interim dividend of 16.5 sen with the entitlement date on July 8.
CONSTRUCTION [] player NAM FATT CORPORATION BHD []’s audited net loss deviated by RM356.7 million to RM541.68 million in its financial year ended Dec 31, 2009 (FY09) from its previously announced unaudited loss of RM184.99 million.
Barely 10 months after listing on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia, Chinese shoe sole-maker Multi Sports Holdings Ltd has proposed a renounceable rights issue of 90 million new shares, raising up to RM36 million to fund its expansion plans.