Wednesday, April 14, 2010

20100414 1813 FCPO EOD Daily Chart Study.

FCPO closed : 2528, changed : -3 points, volume : lower.
Bollinger band reading : side way range bound little downside biased.
MACD Histrogram : not much movement, waiting game for both buyer and seller.
Support : 2521, 2500, 2470 level.
Resistant : 2550, 2570, 2600 level.
Comment :
28 points range side way market FCPO traded fraction lower in thin volume with the yet to be confirm upward trend line support has been challenged for the 2nd time and some how price managed to closed right above it. Daily chart reading continue to show a side way range bound market with a little downside development.
When to buy : buy at support or weakness with quick cut loss and profit target.
When to sell : sell at resistant or strength with quick cut loss and profit target.

20100414 1722 FKLI EOD Daily Chart Study.

FKLI closed : 1342, changed : +8 points, volume : higher.
Bollinger band reading : side way range bound upside biased.
MACD Histrogram : getting lower, seller still in.
Support : 1337, 1330, 1325 level.
Resistant : 1345, 1350, 1360 level.
Comment :
Side way 6 points range FKLI ended the day higher salvaging part of yesterday decline with slighly better volume. Not much change in the daily chart reading that still shows a side way range bound consolidation within a uptrend movement market.
When to buy : buy at support or weakness with quick cut loss and profit target.
When to sell : sell at resistant or strength with quick cut loss and profit target.

20100414 1251 FKLI Mid Day Hourly Chart Study.

FKLI closed : 1341.5, changed : +7.5 points, volume : high.
Bollinger band reading : side way range bound downside biased.
MACD Histrogram : reverse higher slightly, short covering.
Support : 1337, 1330, 1325 level.
Resistant : 1345, 1350, 1360 level.
Comment :
5 points range market FKLI opened and traded mostly in the positive zone recover some of yesterday's loss in sustaining volume. Hourly chart suggesting market is trading side way range bound with a little downside biased still as there is lack of catalyst to lead the market direction.

20100414 1240 FCPO Mid Day Hourly Chart Study.

FCPO closed : 2535, changed : +4 points, volume : low.
Bollinger band reading : side way range bound.
MACD Histrogram : getting higher slightly, buyer show some mild interest.
Support : 2521, 2500, 2470 level.
Resistant : 2550, 2570, 2600 level.
Comment :
Another boring session FCPO that closed slightly higher in tight range lesser volume market. Hourly chart reading remained side way range bound testing immediate support and resistant level.

20100414 0944 Malaysia Corporate News.

DiGi has upped the ante in luring customers to use its broadband network with the introduction of the country's first all-in-one postpaid plan that encourages smartphone usage. Under the DG Smart Plan, customers play RM68/mth to enjoy unlimited internet access while voice calls and SMSes were charged on a pay-as-you-use basis. High usage customers would enoy a 25% discount and a 100% discount off their RM68/mth fee if their total usage was above RM100 or RM200 respectively. (FinancialDaily)
DiGi is focusing more on the smartphone devices (i.e. small screen) segment vs the dongle/large screen market which requires higher data downloads and greater demands on the network.

Telekom Malaysia is offering weekly and monthly prizes worth RM60,000 for customers who pay their monthly bills with Visa credit or debit cards. (TM)

All companies on Bursa Malaysia are required to provide eDividend option to shareholders by Sep-10, says Bursa Malaysia CEO Datuk Yusli Mohamed Yusoff. Share investors have been encouraged to take up a new service under which dividend payments from listed companies will be credited directly into their bank account, instead of through cheques as is the current practice.
  • All companies on Bursa Malaysia are required to provide this eDividend option to shareholders by Sep-10 this year as part of the country's effort to boost payment efficiency. "There are currently more than 4m Central Depository System (CDS) accounts and I hope to see all these account holders come on board to use this new service," says Yusli. 
  • Shareholders can start providing their bank account details to their stockbrokers from April 19 onwards through the submission of an eDividend form. They can get the form from their stockbrokers or download it from the stock exchange website. (BT)
The outlook for the rubber industry this year is set to be considerably brighter thanks largely to the recovery in the global automation sector. In line with this, Malaysia's natural rubber output for 2010 will likely increase by 16% to one million tonnes supported by higher prices compared with 900,000 tonnes last year.
  • The higher production estimated this year would be due to more attractive NR prices which would encourage smallholders to tap their trees for more latex, said Dr Salmiah Ahmad, who was recently appointed Director-General of the Malaysian Rubber Board. 
  • She said rubber prices were expected to be firm due to declining stocks in major consuming countries coupled with fears that the supply situation may worsen due to the political situation in Thailand. (Bernama, BT)
EPF's offer to buy the rest of MRCB at RM1.50 each has failed to meet the acceptance condition and no extension of the offer period will be made. The offer was conditional upon EPF having received in aggregate, more than 50% of the voting shares of MRCB.
  • As at yesterday, EPF held acceptances of only 41.9% of the voting shares in MRCB. To recall, a general offer (GO) was triggered when EPF bought shares not taken up by existing MRCB shareholders under a renounceable rights issue to raise up to RM566m. (BMSB, BT)
MMC Corp expects its energy and utilities division to remain the group's main earnings driver, as it positions itself to take advantage of the country's improving economic outlook. CEO Datuk Hasni Harun said the economic recovery bodes well for the country's electricity demand and its 51%-owned subsidiary Malakoff Corp.
  • "The company is pursuing power and water generation project opportunities in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, to grow its global power and water portfolio," Hasni explained. (Bernama, BT)
Malaysia Airports (MAHB), in a reply to Bursa Malaysia's query over a press report, said it had received "proposals from interested parties" with respect to its Eraman duty-free retail outlets. It was reported that the Atlan group of companies via its subsidiary DFZ Capital, had proposed to acquire the Eraman business from MAHB. (Starbiz)

Perodua has scored an all-time monthly sales high in March as managing director Aminar Rashid Salleh completed his first 100 days at the car company. Aminar Rashid Salleh also saw Perodua achieve 24.5% higher sales in the first three months to 47,800 units.
  • Aminar Rashid is more bullish about Perodua's outlook in the second quarter, given the longer working period and more stable economic situation. Aminar Rashid, however, maintains its full-year sales forecast of 176,000 units. He also outlined Perodua's plans and targets in the short to medium terms.
  • They included increasing exports and plant upgrading. The carmaker wants exports to account for 5% of its total sales volume within three years and 10% beyond five years, from 2% at present. (BT)
Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) is now in the process of changing its television transmitters throughout the country to the higher frequency band involving six transmitting stations which are expected to be fully completed by the end of the year. The first phase which was installed in February was at the Ulu Kali Transmitting Station.
  • The change in the frequency band for the transmitting station involved viewers in areas such as the northern part of Selangor namely Rawang, Kuala Selangor up to southern Perak and west Pahang involving areas in Bukit Tinggi, Bentong, Raub, Merapoh, Kuala Lipis, Temerloh, Maran and Bera. (Bernama)
Australia's Walker Corp is investing RM1.7bn to develop Senibong Cove, Johor's first exclusive waterfront enclave, on the eastern corridor of Iskandar Malaysia. The project will be developed in a JV with Iskandar Waterfront Sdn Bhd, through a company called Front Concept Sdn Bhd. Johor MB Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said the project was the first of several initiatives to spread foreign investments in all major Iskandar Malaysia growth areas.
  • The new world-class residential enclave Senibong Cove is coming up on 84ha of scenic freehold land, on the banks of the Sungei Lunchoo and the Straits of Johor. Senibong Cove will be developed in phases over 10 years with phase one featuring 244 houses, due for completion by early 2012. (Bernama)
KYM Holdings, a paper packaging producer and resort developer, is eyeing RM900m worth of jobs following a land sale in Perak to Vale SA. Brazil-based Vale was reported to be planning to invest as much as RM9bn to set up an iron ore distribution centre to cater for the Asian market.
  • The project is expected to be completed within five years and construction works may start in 2011. KYM is looking to develop 40ha of land in the vicinity of the Vale project into a mixed property development, said KYM managing directtor Datuk Raymond Chong Thin Choy. (Malaysian Reserve)
Texchem Resources plans to set up a second seafood processing facility in the Asean region and expand its disposable medical devices manufacturing activities. Indonesia was a potential location for the facility which required an initial investment of RM15m to RM20m, chairman Tan Sri Fumihiko Konishi said. A second seafood manufacturing facility in the region would further reduce the dependency of the group's seafood supplies from Malaysia. (Starbiz)

Uzma has entered into a deal with China's Junlun International Holding Ltd for the latter to provide oil & gas technical services in Baiyin Chagan, Inner Mongolia dense petroleum block. (BT)

20100414 0939 Malaysian Economic News.

PM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and US President Barack Obama met on 13 Apr for the first-ever bilateral talks, on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit. The two leaders opened on a light-hearted footing before they went deeper into a wide range of issues from commerce to nuclear non-proliferation, Acting Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said.
  • Najib gave his undertaking that Malaysia would participate actively in the Trans-Pacific Partnership initiated by the Obama administration to push for economic integration in the Asia-Pacific which accounts for 40% of world trade. 
  • Najib also pledged Malaysia's readiness to assist in medical and reconstruction programmes in Afghanistan and Obama proposed that the matter be further discussed during a meeting between the him and US Special Representative Richard Holbrooke on 15 Apr. (Bernama)
The Defence Ministry will review the salaries and emoluments of armed forces personnel, its deputy minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad told the Dewan Rakyat. He said that although the armed forces were the most senior force in the country, their salaries were still low compared to other services. (Bernama)

The foreign workers laboratory has proposed that 1.8m foreign workers in the country be reduced to 1.5m in three years. Those foreign workers are mainly placed in manufacturing (39%), construction (19%), plantation (14%), housemaid (12%), services (10%) with the rest in agriculture (6%). The contributing countries are Indonesia (50.9%), Bangladesh (17.4%), Nepal (9.7%), Myanmar (7.8%), India (6.3%), and the rest from Vietnam (7.9%). (Bernama)

The government has set RM750 as the minimum wage for Ikatan Relawan Rakyat Malaysia (Rela) members who worked as part-time security guards. Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusof said the minimum wage limit was set for Rela members based on their training, discipline and ability to handle weapons.
  • It is also an effort to attract locals to the sector (security) and reduce the over dependence on foreign labour, especially workers from Nepal. (Bernama)
The government paid a unit of public relations consultants Apco Worldwide a hefty RM77m for its services from 15 Jul 09 to 4 Jun 10, the Dewan Rakyat was told. Minister in the PM’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said the payments to the unit were made for two categories of services – public affairs (RM4.14m from 15 Jul 09 to 15 Jul 10) and government affairs services, and strategic communications (RM75m from 3 Jun 09 to 4 Jun 10), public relations and press outreach. (Financial Daily)

The government is keen to pursue a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to further enhance business ties with the region, says Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed. The FTA would have a significant impact in expanding bilateral trade and investment between Malaysia and the Gulf region. Bilateral trade between Malaysia and UAE grew more than three folds over the past decade from US$1.16bn in 2000 to US$4.59bn in 2009, he said. (Bernama)

Malaysia has great potential to emerge as the global hub for halal cosmetics and toiletries, said International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir. He said the products could be manufactured for the export market since Malaysia was very rich in unique herbs and awareness about the Malaysian Halal Standard, which is considered a premium on the global scale. The global cosmetics market is worth US$334bn and the global halal cosmetics market, estimated at US$13bn. (Bernama)

20100414 0935 Global Economic News.

US trade deficit widened in February to US$39.7bn (US$37.0bn in Jan) illustrating the rebound in economic growth. But the closely watched bilateral deficit with China was its lowest in nearly a year. Stronger demand boosted imports by 1.7% to US$182.9bn while exports edged only 0.2% higher to US$143.2bn. Economists had expected the trade deficit to widen in February to around US$38.5bn. (CNBC, Bloomberg)

US small business owners have little confidence in the economy and are in no rush to hire or expand, despite signs the recovery is picking up. The National Federation of Independent Business said its monthly index of small business optimism fell 1.2pts in March to 86.8 and below 90.0 for the 18th consecutive month. That showed little hope for a lower unemployment rate. Small business owners continued to liquidate inventories and weak sales trends gave little reason to order new stock, the survey showed. (CNBC)

US Federal Reserve officials discuss raising for a second time the interest rate charged on emergency loans to banks, according to minutes from a mid-March meeting released on 13 Apr. Some directors wanted another hike in discount rate to 1.0% after the 25bp hike on 18 Feb. (CNBC)

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said it remains China's decision on whether it will move to a more flexible foreign exchange policy or not, but warned that the US will be aggressive in promoting a more level playing field. (Xinhua)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said regulators should consider imposing capital surcharges to discourage financial institutions from evolving in ways that threaten the stability of financial markets. Regulators may find it necessary to weigh “direct preemptive measures,” including constraining the size of certain activities to limit the emergence of “systemically important” firms, it said. (Bloomberg)

The UK trade deficit narrowed more than economists forecast in February as exports jumped the most in seven years on record sales of chemicals. The goods-trade gap was £6.2bn (£8.1bn in Jan), the least since Jun 06. Exports surged 9.5% while imports fell 0.1% in February. Economists forecast for a £7.4bn trade deficit in the month. (Bloomberg)

Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the central bank is seeing brighter sign for prices, an indication policy makers may raise their inflation forecasts this month. Improvements in consumer prices typically lag behind the narrowing of the demand gap by a year, he said. BoJ board members will update their forecasts for prices and gross domestic product in their semi-annual outlook report on 30 Apr. (Bloomberg)

China won’t raise benchmark interest rates in the near term. Consumer price gains may slow in April and in coming months, reducing the need for a rate increase, said Xu Lianzhong, an official at the National Development and Reform Commission’s price monitor center. He Keng, deputy director of the finance and economic affairs committee of the National People’s Congress, said rates won’t be raised soon because of uncertainties in China’s growth outlook. (Bloomberg)

President Hu Jintao told the US President Barack Obama that China wouldn’t yield to “external pressure” in deciding when to adjust the yuan. Any currency revaluation by China must be “based on its own economic and social-development needs,” Hu said. (Bloomberg)

Taiwan plans to cut its corporate tax rate for the second time this year as it seeks to lure international investors from regional rivals in Asia, Premier Wu Den-yih said. The government will reduce the rate to 17%, on a par with Singapore, after cutting it to 20% from 1 Jan this year, Wu noted. (Bloomberg)

Philippine’s export increased 42.3% yoy to US$3.57bn in February (42.5% in Jan), marking a 14-year high as the global economic recovery boosted demand for the nation’s electronics goods. That exceeds economists’ estimates for a 39.9% gain. (Bloomberg)

Global oil demand will hit a record high this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. It revised up oil consumption estimate by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.67m bpd for 2010 as the world economy recovers from recession. Output from non-OPEC was raised by 220,000 bpd to around 52.0m bpd for 2010 due to higher output by OECD countries. (Financial Daily)

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would consider raising crude output if the oil price rose to around US$90-95 a barrel, delegates from the producer group said. It has kept the output policy stable for more than a year, but since mid-2009 many countries have been informally raising supply alongside a recovery in prices. (CNBC)

Singapore is looking to double its export of accountancy services to the region over the next 10 years from 22% now to 50%. The Committee to Develop the Accountancy Sector (CDAS) is also recommending that Singapore raises the sector's contribution to GDP from 0.4% to 1.0% within a decade. The committee has recommended that S$10m be set aside to develop the sector. The market for accounting services in Asia Pacific is estimated to be worth US$38.3bn by 2013. (Channel News Asia)

Asia and Pacific economies are recovering strongly from 2009’s slowdown and should coordinate on unwinding easy policy and freeing up exchange rates, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said. Developing Asia was set to grow 7.5% in 2010 and 7.3% in 2011, picking up from 5.2% in 2009, it said. (Financial Daily)

The IMF’s board of directors approved a 10-fold increase in the size of a credit line designed to stem financial crises, adding contributors such as China to the US$550bn pool. “This will help ensure that the Fund has access to adequate resources to help members that are vulnerable to financial crises,” IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said. (Bloomberg)

India’s central bank is likely to raise interest rates next week for the second time to control inflation, said R Gopalan, secretary for financial services in the Ministry of Finance. There is a fear that food inflation might transmit into general inflation, he added. (Malaysian Reserve)