Thesun 2009-01-30 Page16 Fmm Disburse Stimulus Package Fast

16

theSun

business

market summary

JANUARY 29, 2009

Prices end mixed, CI up SHARE prices on Bursa Volume stood at 286.648 Malaysia ended mixed in million shares worth lacklustre trade yesterday RM415.289 million, up from with overnight gains on Wall the 213.002 million worth Street encouraging buying in RM268.227 million regisheavyweight counters that tered on Wednesday. pushed the Composite Index Among the active up, dealers said. At close, the INDICES CHANGE KLCI added 3.53 points to 83.16. FBMEMAS: 5,785.22 +19.28 “Most investors COMPOSITE: 883.16 + 3.53 have extended INDUSTRIAL: 2,081.42 + 8.67 their Chinese New CONSUMER PROD: 283.23 -0.02 Year holidays, in INDUSTRIAL PROD: 66.37 -0.30 line with hose of CONSTRUCTION: 166.12 +0.06 most North Asian TRADING SERVICES: 116.75 +0.17 markets,” said TA FINANCE: 6,910.12 +41.19 Securities in its PROPERTIES: 529.10 -1.98 market review. PLANTATIONS: 4,413.64 +81.59 Some profit MINING: 249.25 UNCH taking was seen FBMSHA: 6,018.79 +20.91 FBM2BRD: 3,952.09 -4.06 in lower liner TECHNOLOGY: 12.93 +0.12 counters, said a dealer. TURNOVER VALUE TA Securities said the KLCI is 286.648mil RM415.289mil likely to range within a lower boundary of 85-870 and an counters, IOI Corp added 10 upper boundary of 880-885. sen to RM3.84, UEM Land “Any bear market rally slipped 1.5 sen to 76 sen attempt should meet more and PI Corp inched down formidable resistance at the one sen to 45 sen. 900 psychological level,” it Of the heavyweights, added. Maybank perked five sen to Gainers led losers by 200 RM5.30, Tenaga Nasional was to 172 while 181 counters flat at RM6.00, MISC rose 15 were unchanged, 701 sen to RM8.55 and Telekom untraded and 29 others Malaysia was unchanged at suspended. RM3.20. – Bernama

| FRIDAY JANUARY 30 2009

Hang Seng

S&P/ASX200

TSEC

KLCI

STI

KOSPI

Nikkei

13,154.43

3,461.30

Closed

883.16

1,766.72

1,166.56

8,251.24

575.83

26.20

3.53

0.64

8.58

144.95

FMM: Disburse stimulus package fast KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) yesterday asked the government to speedily disburse the RM7 billion stimulus package to help keep the businesses in operations. FMM president Datuk Mustafa Mansur said: “Announcing is one thing, but disbursing the money out into the market is very important. Also, (the money) has to be given out to the right sector so that they don’t go down to waste.” He said the proposed second economic stimulus package should follow closely to give a further boost to keep the economy going. He also said FMM members would only retrench workers as a

last resort. They would first reduce work hours, shorten work week, extend public holiday during festivities, cut overtime and cut shifts, he said. They would also freeze new recruitments and replacements, cut off contract workers and offer voluntary separation scheme (VSS), he told a media conference. Mustafa said 35.1% of members would cut at least one work day a week while 24.6% are considering VSS, 19.3% would ask employees to take unpaid leave or annual leave, 8.8% would offer temporary lay-off with half-pay and 7% are considering retrenchment. He said the majorAnnouncing is one thing, but ity are in the electronics, materials and disbursing the money out into building plastic industries. the market is very important.” Asked if it has been a trend for manufacturers to cut down jobs, Mustafa said: “I think it’s unavoidable. They have to.” He also urged the government to suspend the Human Resource Development Fund levy collection and Socso contributions for all employers for two years. Based on FMM’s estimation, suspension for two years could release over RM624 million in cash flow back to the 10,780 businesses. – Bernama

briefs SC okays three foreign Islamic fund managers KUALA LUMPUR: Three new foreign Islamic fund management companies (IFMCs) have been approved by the Securities Commission to start operations in Malaysia. The companies are Aberdeen Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd, BNP Paribas Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd and Nomura Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd, the commission said in a statement yesterday. The three companies already have a presence in the conventional asset management industry in Malaysia. – Bernama

Public Bank and OCBC Bank cut BLR to 5.95% KUALA LUMPUR: Public Bank Bhd and Public Islamic Bank Bhd will reduce their base lending rate (BLR) and base financing rate (BFR) by 0.55% from 6.50% to 5.95% with effect from Feb 3. The reduction of the BLR and BFR is part of the Public Bank Group’s ongoing commitment towards the creation of a more supportive monetary environment which would help sustain economic growth in the country, the bank’s said in a statement yesterday. Meanwhile, OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad and its subsidiary OCBC Bank Al-Amin Berhad will also reduce their base lending rate (BLR) and base financing rate (BFR) by 55 basis point to 5.95%, effective Feb 3. This follows the recent downward revi-

sion of Bank Negara Malaysia’s overnight policy rate (OPR). The bank’s previous BLR and BFR were 6.50%. – Bernama

Shell suffers US$2.8b loss on tumbling oil prices LONDON: Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday it made a net loss of US$2.81 billion (RM10.08 billion) in the final quarter of 2008 as plunging oil prices slashed the value of inventories. The loss compared with net profit of US$8.47 billion during the fourth quarter of 2007 when crude prices were far higher, the company said in a statement. – AFP

Thai parliament approves US$3.35b stimulus BANGKOK: Thailand’s parliament yesterday approved a US$3.35 billion (RM12.06 billion) stimulus package aimed at boosting the economy, battered by months of street protests and last year’s crippling airport seizures. After 11 hours of debate between the Democrat Party-led government and the opposition, lawmakers voted after midnight for the 116.7 billion baht supplementary budget for this fiscal year. – AFP

Toshiba in the red, to cut 4,500 jobs TOKYO: Japan’s Toshiba Corp said yesterday it would cut 4,500 jobs and slash investment as the global economic slowdown pushes the bellwether company into the red this year. The electronics and engineering giant said the financial crisis was badly hitting demand for its semiconductors and flat-screen televisions. – AFP