Business & Markets 2012
Written by Cindy Yeap of theedgemalaysia.com
Wednesday, 07 November 2012 19:19
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 7): Investors would probably look to Wall Street's performance overnight following the re-election of Barack Obama as US President today (Wednesday) for a second and final four-year term Wednesday afternoon in Asia. But sentiments would likely stay cautious ahead of the introduction of China's new generation of leaders at the National Congress kicking-off in Beijing on Thursday.
In Kuala Lumpur, traders say some funds may choose to unwind positions ahead of the next week's three-day trading week. Bursa Malaysia will be closed on Tuesday (Nov 13) and Thursday (Nov 15) next week.
Malaysia's bellwether FBM KLCI ended lower for a fourth-straight day today at 1,645.53 points, lagging most of Asia by slipping 0.01% as investors continued to take profit on telecoms stocks like Axiata Group Bhd, TELEKOM MALAYSIA BHD [] and DIGI.COM BHD []. The declines out-weighed gains at GENTING BHD [], PUBLIC BANK BHD [] and HONG LEONG BANK BHD [].
Axiata, which at Wednesday's RM5.83-close is at its lowest since July 26, could warrant attention. The stock had slipped 13.8% from its recent high of RM6.76 on Oct 5. RHB Research today (Nov 7) retained an "outperform" call on Axiata with RM7.15 fair value while HwangDBS Research recommended a "hold" with RM5.80 price target, flagging near-term margin pressure in Indonesia as it cut rates to regain market share.
Going by corporate developments and earnings releases, other stocks that could garner interest on Thursday include Gas Malaysia Bhd which said it is expecting a lower year-on-year profit on higher revenues this year when releasing its third quarter numbers.
Gas Malaysia's earnings for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2012, rose 37.7% to RM41.97 million on the back of a 4.9% higher revenue to RM542.4 million. However, earnings for the first nine months of the year was down 29.3% to RM117.3 million, despite a 6.8% revenue growth to RM1.57 billion.
Over at KKB ENGINEERING BHD [], the company said lower contributions from its engineering and manufacturing divisions caused its third quarter earnings to tumble 80% to RM1.7 million. Net profit for the nine months ended Sept 30, 2012 dipped 66.9% to RM13.17 million on the back of a 22.3% fall in revenue to RM128 million. KKB said order book replenishment was encouraging and expects its performance for the rest of 2012 to remain satisfactory.
Meanwhile, Sarawak Cable Bhd has fixed the price for its 20.25 million placement shares or up to 15% of its share base. The half set aside for third parties is fixed at RM1.52 per share, being a 9.86% discount to its five-day weighted average price of RM1.69 per share. The remaining 10.13 million placement shares to three interested parties have been priced at RM1.69 apiece. Sarawak Cable shed 2 sen or 1.16% to RM1.70 today on thin trade.
Tan Chong Motors Holdings Bhd, which analysts see benefiting from the introduction of the new competitively-priced sedan Nissan Almera, may also see some action. Its unit, Tan Chong Industrial Equipment Sdn Bhd said it was confident of growing its market share in the bus sector from 30% currently to 40% next year with the introduction of the Silverbus SL 900 series, theedgemalaysia.com reported Wednesday. Tan Chong is expected to release its 3Q earnings next week.
Separately, penny stock Tiger Synergy Bhd on Wednesday afternoon said former Proton chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh is its substantial shareholder, through Hayat Maya Sdn Bhd that paid 45.3 sen apiece for 16.1 million shares or 5.26% of Tiger on Nov 2.
The announcement followed a Nov 5 statement where Tiger said it was "not aware" of Mohd Nadzmi's emergence as its shareholder as reported in a Chinese daily. Meanwhile, some 12.9 million new Tiger shares will be listed on Thursday, enlarging its share base to 319 million shares. The 12.9 million shares were issued at 31 sen apiece pursuant to a private placement.
On the economic front, Bank Negara Malaysia is due to release its monetary policy statement on Thursday. Also slated for release are manufacturing sales and industrial production numbers.