Tuesday, March 25, 2008
3:52 pm - Little bird told me that Proton might be taken private.
Watch for the volume build-up for Proton.
1:34 pm - Malaysian shares end morning sharply higher on Wall Street's rally
- UPDATE KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Financial) - Malaysian shares ended the morning session sharply higher Tuesday after US stocks rallied overnight on an unexpected rise in home sales and news of JPMorgan's revised offer for Bear Stearns. Also lifting sentiment were the new measures announced by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmah Badawi aimed at boosting stock market liquidity. Abdullah told fund managers at an investment conference that the main and second boards will be combined into one board for more established companies, cutting down the number of boards in the Malaysian stock exchange to two from three. The stock exchange will also introduce market makers, which could include proprietary traders at commercial and investment banks, as well as foreign traders, to enhance liquidity, he said. At the midday break, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) was up 24.34 points or 2percent at 1,225.36. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia 30-large cap index gained 151.15 points or 1.9 percent to 8,130.96 and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia second board index added 25.84 points or 0.5 percent to 5,710.75. Advancers led decliners 493 to 169 with 168 stocks unchanged and 535 counters untraded. Trading volume was 506.8 million shares, valued at 608.88 million ringgit. "The market was higher mainly because of the strong closing in the US," said Michael Lai, investment director at Fortress Capital Asset Management. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 187.32 points or 1.5 percent to 12,548.64 on Mondayafter JPMorgan Chase raised its offer for ailing rival Bear Stearns to 10 dollars a share from 2 dollars. Sentiment was also boosted by a report from the National Association of Realtors that sales of existing homes rose 2.9 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million units. Economists had expected a slight decline. The streamlining of the board structure of the Malaysian stock exchange and the setting up of amarket-making mechanism should help increase liquidity if they are well implemented, said Lai. "Unifying the main and second boards is probably good news for second-board companieswhich have long been overlooked by investors in the past few years. "However, a good market-making mechanism is essential. Otherwise, in formality you may have one board but the market remains a two-tier market," he said. Stock exchange operator Bursa Malaysia ended the morning sharply higher. The stock jumped 55 sen or 6.7 percent to 8.80 ringgit. Plantation stocks, which were among the hardest hit in the recent selloff, were broadly higher as investors sought bargains. Sime Darby, the world's largest oil palm grower, gained 20 sen or 2.2 percent to 9.20 ringgitand IOI Corp, the second-biggest palm oil stock on the bourse by market value, rose 10 sen or 1.5 percent to 6.70 ringgit. Kuala Lumpur Kepong, which has interests in oil palm as well as rubber plantations, jumped 40sen or 2.5 percent to 16.50 ringgit. Among blue chips, DiGi.com rose 1 ringgit or 4.4 percent to 24.00 ringgit while construction group IJM surged 40 sen or 7.5 percent to 5.75 ringgit. Malaysia's leading bank, Maybank, added 15 sen or 1.7 percent to 8.90 ringgit, national power utility Tenaga advanced 20 sen or 2.9 percent to 7.05 ringgit and state-controlled Telekom Malaysia was steady at 10.90 ringgit. The Malaysian ringgit was quoted at 3.1970/2005 against the US dollar.
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