U.S. Stocks Decline As Investors Await Fed Decision: as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's monetary-policy decision tomorrow. About five stocks fell for every three that rose on U.S. exchanges. The S&P 500 (SPX) slid 0.4 percent to 1,379.32. The benchmark measure rose 1.3 percent in July. The Dow average slid 64.33 points, or 0.5 percent, to 13,008.68 today. Volume for exchange-listed stocks in the U.S. was 6.7 billion shares, or about in line with the three-month average

U.K. Stocks Retreat On BP Earnings, German ESM Comments: as BP Plc (BP/) reported results that missed estimates and Germany's Finance Ministry said it sees no need to give Europe's permanent bailout fund a banking license. FTSE 100 Index (UKX) lost 58.35 points, or 1 percent. France CAC 40 down 1percents and Germany DAX was lower slightly.

Oil Falls On Speculation Fed To Forgo Stimulus: Federal Reserve will be less likely to announce additional measures to stimulate the economy after U.S. consumer confidence and business activity unexpectedly grew. Oil for September delivery fell $1.72, or 1.9 percent, to settle at $88.06 a barrel on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. Prices climbed 3.6 percent this month and declined 11 percent this year.

CORPORATE NEWS

Gabungan AQRS to reward investors: , which was listed on Bursa Malaysia's Main Market yesterday, will pay dividends of at least one fourth of its net profit annually . For the year ended December 31 2011, Gabungan AQRS recorded a proforma net profit of RM48.2 million on revenue of RM372.4 million. EPF buys RM2.2b blue chip stocks: has turned net buyers of blue chip stocks, acquiring an estimated RM2.2 billion worth of stocks over the past two months. In March this year, when word got out that EPF was net seller of stocks, retail investors also
cooled down their interest in the equity market here.

Bintai revises net profit: made a huge adjustment to its audited net profit after tax for the financial year ended March 31, 2012 after recording an additional impairment loss on receivables of RM26.6mil. Bintai Kinden explained that there was additional impairment loss on receivables, namely from Desa Konsep Sdn Bhd and KBK Dubai LLC, based on the latest information and developments.

EcoFirst gains from revaluation: gain of RM22.4mil from the revaluation of 1Segamat Mall. The three-storey shopping complex, with a basement and roof top parking space in Johor, was valued at RM83.6mil by independent professional property valuer Henry Butcher Malaysia (Kluang) Sdn Bhd.

Source:Jupiter Securities Research 01 August 2012