MARKET ROUNDUP (Source Bloomberg)

S&P 500 Erases Early Gain as Tech, Financial Shares Slump: as a slump in technology and financial shares reversed an earlier rally amid better-than-estimated retail sales. The S&P 500 dropped less than 0.1 percent to 1,403.93 at, after earlier rising as much as 0.4 percent. The Dow added 2.71 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 13,172.14. Volume for exchange-listed stocks in the U.S. was about 5.2 billion shares today, 20 percent below the three-month average.

European Stocks Rise on German GDP Report: as a report showed German growth slowed less than forecast, while minutes revealed that several Bank of Japan policy makers are prepared to stimulate the economy. The U.K.'s FTSE 100
gained 0.6 percent, while Germany's DAX rose 0.9 percent. France's CAC 40 added 0.7 percent.

Oil Rises As U.S. Retail Sales Beat Forecasts: on betterthan-expected economic reports from the U.S. and Germany.Oil for September delivery advanced 70 cents, or 0.8 percent, to settle at $93.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 20 percent from this year's settlement low of $77.69 on June 28.


CORPORATE NEWS

MAS' operating loss slashed to RM102m in Q2: the improvement showed that the tough decisions taken by the group earlier to suspend high loss-making routes were showing results.

Tradewinds Plantation Q2 pre-tax falls: pre-tax profit was down due to lower production and prices and higher operating expenses.

Btimes


MSC Shares down in KL and S'pore after dismal Q2 results, news on unit: following the group's dismal performance for its second quarter ended June 30 as well as negative newsflow about its 75%-owned Indonesian unit PT Koba Tin.

Deleum unit to buy 60% stake in NPSB: NPSB, which is involved in providing services in integrated corrosion, inspection and mitigation, primarily using Sponge-Jet products. At present, NPSB is the sole distributor of certain Sponge-Jet products in Malaysia and Indonesia.

StarbIz


Source:Jupiter Securities Research 15 August 2012