Thesun 2009-08-13 Page17 Rio Employees Formally Arrested

theSun

17

| THURSDAY AUGUST 13 2009

business

KLCI STI Hang Seng SCI

1,180.54 2,571.31 20,435.24 3,112.72

5.74 25.99 638.97 152.01

Nikkei TSEC KOSPI S&P/ASX200

10,435 6,898.90 1,565.35 4,343.1

150.46 10.12 13.86 11.1

KL market summary

Shares ease on technical correction AUGUST 12, 2009 INDICES

CHANGE

FBMEMAS FBM-KLCI INDUSTRIAL CONSUMER PROD INDUSTRIAL PROD CONSTRUCTION TRADING SERVICES FINANCE PROPERTIES PLANTATION MINING FBMSHA FBMACE TECHNOLOGY

7,996.20 1,180.54 2,596.23 355.25 92.04 227.50 155.65 9,634.56 787.26 5,828.50 346.52 8,251.69 4,163.12 16.80

TURNOVER

-52.28 -5.74 -8.26 -1.45 -0.92 -2.07 -1.13 -99.98 -8.89 +34.74 -4.05 -35.12 -65.26 -0.08

VALUE

1.740bil

RM1.115bil

TRADING on Bursa Malaysia closed lower yesterday on technical correction after rallying for three weeks, dealers said. An analyst said the market was weighed down by heavyweights like DiGi, BAT and Maybank due to continuous sell-off that dragged it into negative territory. He said the decline was also in line with the softer regional markets following the overnight slump on Wall Street. “Financial stocks are under pressure today (yesterday) as investors turn defensive and up their purchase on consumer stocks,” he said, adding that local investors continued to stay on the sidelines to await positive news. Meanwhile, MIMB Investment Bank said the market was undergoing correction due to the short-term overbought position. “Any correction can bring FBM KLCI to

Rio employees formally arrested BEIJING: China said yesterday it had formally arrested four Rio Tinto employees over accusations of industrial espionage and bribery while stressing the case was unlikely to harm investor confidence. China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate said the four had obtained trade secrets about China’s steel and iron industry through “improper means,” Xinhua news agency reported. The four – Australian Stern Hu and his Chinese colleagues Liu Caikui, Ge Minqiang and Wang Yong – are already in detention and it was not immediately clear from the Xinhua report whether they had now been formally charged. But in an apparent attempt to head off concern among foreign investors, the Chinese government said it did not believe the Rio Tinto case would impact its status as a destination for foreign direct investment, or FDI. “It will not impair China’s efforts in terms of attracting FDI. On the contrary, we believe it will benefit China’s (efforts to get) FDI,” Vice Commerce Minister Fu Ziying said.

EXCHANGE RATES Foreign currency

Fu added that he did not believe the case would damage bilateral relations with Australia. An official with China’s national security bureau said the bureau was not in charge of the case anymore. “It is no longer under the jurisdiction of the national security bureau. It has been passed to the procuratorate,” the official with the bureau’s Shanghai branch said. Meanwhile, Rio Tinto yesterday said China’s move to “downgrade” the case against a detained executive by formally arresting him on lesser charges showed there was no evidence against him. Rio questioned the strength of the case against Hu after China’s national security bureau handed it to prosecutors and state media reported he would be charged with industrial espionage, rather than spying. “The charges have been downgraded and I think that reflects what we’ve been saying all along – that we don’t, in fact, believe there’s any evidence of wrongdoing,” Rio’s chief executive of iron ore, Sam Walsh, said. – AFP August 12, 2009

Bank sell Bank buy Bank buy

1 US DOLLAR 1 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR 1 BRUNEI DOLLAR 1 CANADIAN DOLLAR 1 EURO 1 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR 1 PAPUA N GUINEA KINA 1 SINGAPORE DOLLAR 1 STERLING POUND 1 SWISS FRANC 100 ARAB EMIRATES DIRHAM 100 BANGLADESH TAKA 100 CHINESE RENMINBI 100 DANISH KRONE 100 HONGKONG DOLLAR 100 INDIAN RUPEE 100 INDONESIAN RUPIAH 100 JAPANESE YEN 100 NEW TAIWAN DOLLAR 100 NORWEGIAN KRONE 100 PAKISTAN RUPEE 100 PHILIPPINE PESO 100 QATAR RIYAL 100 SAUDI RIYAL 100 SOUTH AFRICAN RAND 100 SRI LANKA RUPEE 100 SWEDISH KRONA 100 THAI BAHT

TT/OD 3.5530 2.9880 2.4630 3.2410 5.0470 2.4050 1.4580 2.4625 5.8820 3.2970 98.4600 5.3400 N/A 69.8000 46.6600 7.7100 0.0373 3.6980 N/A 59.0000 4.4000 7.5900 99.0900 96.2200 45.6200 3.2200 50.4500 11.2000

TT 3.4880 2.8580 2.4020 3.1620 4.9250 2.2990 1.2220 2.4020 5.7390 3.2170 93.2500 5.2100 N/A 64.1400 44.1900 7.0800 0.0314 3.6080 N/A 54.1400 4.1000 7.1300 94.2600 91.5300 41.7600 2.9500 45.8800 9.4900

OD 3.4780 2.8420 2.3940 3.1500 4.9050 2.2830 1.2060 2.3940 5.7190 3.2020 93.0500 5.0100 N/A 63.9400 43.9900 6.8800 0.0264 3.5980 N/A 53.9400 3.9000 6.9300 94.0600 91.3300 41.5600 2.7500 45.6800 9.0900

Source: Malayan Banking Berhad/Bernama

Public Bank to issue MU MasterCard pg 18

anywhere between 1,100 and 1,160, while support level is expected to hold at 1,160 and resistance at 1,200,” it said in its research note. SJ Securities analyst, Phua Kwee Hock, said the local and regional bourses were cautious ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting later in the day. Phua said the meeting would discuss, among others, the US inflation outlook and interest rate as well as any hints of the country’s economic recovery. Of the active stocks, KNM Group lost 4.5 sen to 79.5 sen, while Scomi andMRCH rose one sen each to 70.5 sen and RM1.44 respectively. Among heavyweights, Sime Darby fell one sen to RM8.30, Maybank declined 22 sen to RM6.55, Bumiputra-Commerce gained 10 sen to RM10.80 and Tenaga lost one sen to RM8.15. – Bernama

British unemployment rate hits 7.8%, highest since 1996 LONDON: Britain’s unemployment rate soared to 7.8% in the three months to June, hitting the highest level since November 1996, official data showed yesterday. “The unemployment rate was 7.8% in the three months to June 2009, up 0.7% from the previous three months and up 2.4% on the year,” the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. “The unemployment level was 2.43 million, up 220,000 on the previous three months and up 750,000 on the year.” – AFP