MARKET ROUNDUP (Source Bloomberg)


S&P 500 Rises To Highest Since April On Housing, Cisco: as building permits jumped in July to a four-year peak. The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent to 1,409.34 at 10:46 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 34.07 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,198.85. Trading in S&P 500 companies was almost in line with the 30-day average at this time of day.

European Stocks Climb To Highest Since March: as U.K. retail sales beat forecasts and U.S. building permits jumped to their highest in four years. U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index added less than 0.1 percent. France's CAC 40 Index rose 0.9 percent and Germany's DAX Index increased 0.7 percent.

Oil Rises Above $95 As Housing Permits Ease Economic Concern: adding to optimism that faster economic growth will boost demand. Oil for September delivery increased $1.27, or 1.3 percent, to settle at $95.60 a barrel on theNew York Mercantile Exchange. The price reached $95.75, the highest intraday level since May 14.

CORPORATE NEWS

Maybank H1 earnings surge to record high: Growth was strong across almost all business sectors supported by a more than 100 per cent growth in revenue for investment banking, and income growth of over 50 per cent for Islamic banking.

Sapura buys 2 companies for RM29m: DNest Aviation Services provides hangarage and related aviation services while DNest Aviation Traning provides education and training related to aviation technology and aircraft maintenance engineering.

Btimes


House price hike likely: following the recent move by Lafarge Malayan Cement to raise cement prices by about 6%, according to housing developers here.

MISC back to profit: recorded losses in the last two quarters due to provisions made in respect of its planned cessation of its the liner related business.

StarbIz


Source:Jupiter Securities Research 17 August 2012