MO R N I N G C O F F E E - Friday, April 27, 2012


U.S. and European market roundup
U.S. stocks rose for a third day on Thursday after upbeat housing data and stronger-than-expected results from companies, overshadowed some high-profile earnings misses. An index of pending home sales rose to nearly a two-year high in March, sending the Philadelphia Stock Exchange index of housing-related shares up 3%.
Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.87%, Standard & Poor's 500 advanced 0.67% and Nasdaq gained 0.69%. NYMEX-Crude ends up as home sales data fuels optimism. June crude rose 43 cents to settle at $104.55 a barrel.

-Reuters

European stocks were little changed after a rally in automakers helped offset a drop in euro-area confidence
and a report that showed more Americans than forecast filed for jobless benefits last week. France's CAC 40 Index fell 0.1% while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX both climbed 0.5%.

-Bloomberg

Corporate News Headlines
Sunway says demand for high-end properties has slowed: following the tightening of loan requirements byBank Negara, given its impact on the confidence of property buyers.

MAHB Q1 net profit at RM102.7 million. Earnings per share stood at 9.22 sen versus 8.74 sen previously. Passenger traffic grew 6.5% in the first three months of this year. They budgeted overall passenger traffic growth of 6-7% for this year. MAHB reported a 1.7% decline in cargo volume during the quarter under review. This was in contrast to a positive growth trend in cargo volume at other airports in the region.

TA buys Phuket resort for RM277m: the hotel and business of Movenpick Karon Beach Resort in Phuket,
Thailand for US$90.21 million (RM276.94 million) from Saudi Arabia-based Kingdom Holding Co.

-SunBiz

Sunway REIT issues RM850mil commercial papers: the CPs were accorded a short a short term rating of P1(s) by RAM Rating Services Bhd.

DRB-Hicom holds 98.6% of Proton, trading suspended May 4. DRB-Hicom made a cash offer to acquire Proton shares at RM5.50 per share after it acquired a 42.74% stake in the national car maker from Khazanah Nasional Bhd. The offer will remain open until 5pm on May 9.

Petra Perdana puts up 26.9% stake in Petra Energy up for tender: a restricted tender process for the proposed divestment of its 57.70 million shares.

-StarBiz

Proposed RHBCap-OSK merger may take 6 months: to be finalised once it receives the go-ahead from Bank Negara. Both companies had applied for the central bank's approval for their merger on January 11.

Big spin-offs from Pengerang O&G project: The RM5 billion Pengerang Independent Deepwater Petroleum Terminal (PIDPT) project, which will be completed about four years. t will complement Petronas' RM60,000 billion Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (Rapid) complex with its crude oil refining capacity, that will be larger than those in Kerteh, Terengannu and Malacca.

-Btimes

MPI posts net loss RM7.43 million in 3Q ended March 31, 2012 due mainly to drop in revenue. MPI revenue for the quarter fell17.63% to RM275.76 million attributing the drop to overall weak demand. Loss per share was 3.83 sen compared to earnings per share of 2.61sen a year earlier. The company declared a second interim dividend of five sen per share tax exempt. Reviewing its performance, MPI said revenue by segments saw the European sector fell the most by 31% followed by Asia, down 13% and the US by 9%.

-Financial Daily

Source Jupiter Securities Research 27 April 2012