MARKET ROUNDUP (Source Bloomberg)

S&P 500 Caps Longest Rally Since March On Economic Data: as data showing an unexpected decline in jobless claims last week tempered concern about a worsening of Europe's economy. Five stocks rose for every four falling on U.S. exchanges at 4 p.m. New York time. The S&P 500 (SPX) added less than 0.1 percent to 1,402.80, rallying 2.8 percent in five days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 10.45 points, or 0.1 percent, to 13,165.19. Volume for exchange-listed stocks in the U.S. was 5.5 billion shares, 18 percent below the three-month
average.

European Stocks Rise For Fifth Day; Nestle Gains: as Nestle SA (NESN) posted sales growth that beat estimates and a report showed China's inflation cooled, increasing speculation that policy makers will do more to stimulate the economy. The volume of securities trading on Germany's DAX Index was 12 percent higher than the average. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.1 percent, while Germany's DAX slipped less than 0.1 percent. France's CAC 40 Index added 0.5
percent.

Oil Steady As U.S. Jobless Claims Fall, Dollar Rallies: as reports signaled that the U.S. economy was strengthening and the dollar surged against the euro, curbing investors' appetite for commodities. Crude oil for September delivery rose 1 cent to settle at $93.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.


CORPORATE NEWS

Pos Malaysia in talks to buy Mideast courier: The deal with the Arab company, Pos Malaysia hopes to conclude it by the end of this year. Pos Malaysia is budgeting between RM100 million and RM150 million annually for capital expenditure in the next five years to transform into a modern and high-performance
organization.

Malaysia industrial output growth slips: The IPI is in line with the trade data as Malaysia's export growth eased from a 3-month high of 6.7 per cent in May to 5.4 per cent in June.

Btimes

Unisem incurs RM7.6mil loss in Q2: This was mainly attributable to reduced sales revenue, the one-time retrenchment costs of RM5.7mil arising from an efficiency or redundancy exercise at unit PT Unisem, higher depreciation charges and lower foreign exchange gains.

Ho Hup wins RM267mil Iraq job: In carrying out the contract, Ho Hup will undertake the role as the main contractor and will appoint and work with Iraqi sub-contractors for the project execution and project financing. 'The company is of the opinion that the project and country risks associated with this project will be adequately mitigated by the appointment of established and reliable local Iraqi sub-contractors

StarbIz


Source:Jupiter Securities Research 10 August 2012