MO R N I N G C O F F E E - Thursday, May 3, 2012

U.S. and European market roundup
The S&P 500 and the Dow edged lower on Wednesday as data showed that private sector hiring fell far more than expected in April, sparking concerns that Friday's U.S. jobs report will also disappoint investors. Private employers added 119,000 jobs in April, well short of the 177,000 expected, the ADP report showed.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.08 %, Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.25 % and Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.31 %.

NYMEX-Crude ends lower on inventory rise, weak data. U.S. crude inventories rose a sixth straight week, to the highest level since 1990. June crude fell 94 cents to $105.22 a barrel, the 50-day moving average for frontmonth crude, having traded from $104.91 to $106.05.

-Reuters

European stocks declined for the second time in three days after reports showed that U.S. employers added fewer payrolls than forecast and euro-area unemployment rose to a 15-year high. France's CAC 40 rose 0.4 %, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 slid 0.9 % and Germany's DAX retreated 0.8

-Bloomberg

Corporate News Headlines
QSR invests RM21m in new Pizza Hut outlets, upgrading: It plans to open five dine-in Pizza Hut restaurants in Malaysia with an investment of RM6 million and upgrade 30 outlets with an allocation of RM15 million.

MAS-AirAsia share swap off: has been officially called off eight months after its signing in August 2011, amid heavy political and union pressure. With the deal off, AirAsia group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and group deputy CEO Datuk Kamarudin Meranun have resigned from MAS' board of directors.

MAS, AirAsia, AirAsia X sign supplemental agreement. The collaboration on procurement will be by way of exploring the potential outsourcing of procurement activities to a mutually-owned joint venture (JV) company. As a result of the unwinding of the share-swap deal between MAS and AirAsia yesterday, both carriers will terminate the agreement to issue warrants to each other's shareholders.

-SunBiz

Daya eyes fabrication yard for downstream ops: the company was in talks with several parties, including yard owners and fabricators in Malaysia, Singapore and the United States.Daya told Bursa that it had won a RM270mil contract from the Yuk Tung Group to construct three blocks of 28-storey mixed development condominium and offices in Jalan Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur.

Sarawak investments up: Sarawak's manufacturing sector attracted RM8.4bil in investments last year, Of the total, RM4.3bil or 51.2% was from domestic investors while the remaining RM4.1bil or 48.8% came from overseas.

Five firms bid for oilfield jobs: The five are believed to be Ramunia Holdings Bhd, Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd, Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd, Daya Materials Bhd and a company under Perwaja Holdings Bhd.

-StarBiz

Ong hedges on German business to turn around Astral
Supreme: Ong took control of Asupreme eight months ago and soon after, started courting German businesses, which were thinking of moving their production facilities to either India or Malaysia. One such German business was Sphairon Technologies Gmbh.

GfK: Malaysia still SE Asia's biggest tablet computer market: raking in US$374 million (RM1.1 billion) sales last year, according to research company GfK group.

Menang wins RM260m UiTM job: It will receive nearly RM50 million annually over 20 years after building a Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) satellite campus in Puncak Alam, Selangor. The company stands to get RM39.8 million a year from leasing the site for 20 years, and another RM8.86 million a year to maintain the campus over the same period of time.

-Btimes

Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd has queried CYBERTOWERS BHD over the unusual market activity relating to its securities. In a circular issued on Wednesday, it queried the company due to the sharp rise in price and high volume in the company's shares.

UNISEM (M) BHD posted net loss RM13.52 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012. Unisem attributed the declines in its revenue and profit to reduced sales volume, a one-time retrenchment costs of RM5.7 million arising from a efficiency/redundancy exercise at PT Unisem and higher depreciation charges.

Aker Solutions has been awarded a contract by Murphy Sabah Oil: for the delivery of a subsea production system for the Siakap North - Petai deepwater development. In statement Wednesday, Aker Solutions said the scope of work included 13 subsea trees, eight manifolds, well jumpers,engineering for topside controls and lifecycle support services.

-FinancialDaily


 Sourcs:Jupiter Securities Research 03 May 2012