MO R N I N G C O F F E E - Tuesday, April 24, 2012

U.S. and European market roundup Stocks fell on Monday as political turmoil in Europe cast doubts on the euro zone's ability to push through measures to end its debt crisis and as Wal-Mart sank following a report it stymied a bribery probe. DJIA was  down 0.78% and S&P500 was down 0.84%. The S&P 500 is still up 8.7% for the year, some way off its year-to-date gain of 12.8% reached earlier this month. The majority of S&P 500 results for the first quarter have been positive so far, however, with 79 percent of companies beating Wall Street's earnings expectations. 'Reuters

Oil price on NYMEX slid $0.77 to $103.11. Oil slipped yesterday after surveys of purchasing managers showed factory activity contracting in China, the world's second biggest crude consumer, and manufacturing and services shrinking in the euro area. -Bloomberg

European stock markets tumbled to a three-month low on Monday.French stocks wiped out yearly gains as the CAC 40 dropped 2.8% to 3,098.37 following Sunday's first-round presidential election. Socialist candidate Fran''ois Hollande topped President Nicolas Sarkozy in the first-round contest.Germany's DAX30 tumbled 3.4%. A preliminary reading of the country's manufacturing PMI showed business activity contracted at the fastest level since 2009, according to Markit.FTSE100 closed 1.9% lower a. -MarketWatch

Corporate News
Maybank's big plans in Thailand. (Maybank). The fourth-largest bank in Southeast Asia by asset, is aiming to grow its presence in Thailand into a full-fledged financial and banking business in three years. ' Sunbiz

AEON Credit mulling bonus issue (AEON). Bonus issue is to improve the stock's liquidity, said sources. AEON, which saw its revenue and net profit grow by 27.7% and 50.7% year-on-year, respectively, in the financial year ended Feb 20, 2012 (FY12). ' Sunbiz

Kencana, SapuraCrest to be suspended on May 2. The suspension is to facilitate the capital repayment exercises. The capital repayment follows the merger of the two companies into SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, the largest oil and gas service provider by asset in the country. ' Sunbiz

E&O plans to buy London property for RM100.9m. E&O is acquiring an office cum retail building known as "Princes House" in London from Strathclyde Pension Fund for ''20.3 million (RM100.9 million) cash.The proposed acquisition is currently at a preliminary stage and the deal is expected to be completed by June 2012. ' Sunbiz

Tanjung offers to sell marine op to Ekuinas. They proposed to sell its marine business to major shareholder E-Cap (Internal) One Sdn Bhd for RM220mil under a demerger exercise. The disposal by Tanjung of 10 million ordinary shares of RM1 each in Tanjung Kapal Services Sdn Bhd (TKS), representing the entire equity interest in TKS, to KBE for a cash consideration of RM220mil. ' StraBiz

Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand) aims to have a bigger presence in China's property market after its maiden commercial development, the Great Mall of China (GMOC) in Yanjiau city, Hebei province, started construction recently. GMOC, billed as the world's largest integrated entertainment and commercial mall development with gross floor area (GFA) of 18.5 million sq ft, is scheduled for completion in 2017. 'StraBiz

Fajarbaru Builder Group Bhd is expected to bag a RM299mil job for the construction of Sungai Baru light rail transit station (LRT) under the LRT extension project by Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd, The Sungai Baru station will be next to the Putra Heights station and will be located along the Ampang line extension programme. 'StraBiz

KFCH, QSR to ink share sale deals with MESB. The date of execution would be no later than May 21 or another mutually agreeable date. On Dec 14, 2011 KFCH announced that special purpose vehicle MESB had made a conditional offer to acquire the entire business and undertaking including all of the assets and liabilities of KFCH at RM4 per share and RM1 per warrant. 'StraBiz

Source:Jupiter Securities Research 24 April 2012