MARKET ROUNDUP (Source Bloomberg)

U.S. Stocks Fall As Confidence Drops Before Fed Speech: The S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent to 1,409.30 at 4 p.m. New York time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 21.68 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,102.99. Volume for exchange-listed stocks in the U.S. was 4.6 billion shares, or 26 percent below the threemonth
average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

European Stocks Decline As Catalonia Seeks Aid; as the Spanish region of Catalonia asked for a bailout from the central government and Japan lowered an assessment of its economy. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index decreased less than 0.1 percent, whileFrance's CAC 40 Index slid 0.9 percent. Germany's DAX Index dropped 0.6 percent.

Oil Trades Near One-Week High As Hurricane Isaac Disrupts Output: Oil for October delivery was at $96.15 a barrel, down 18 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 9:58 a.m. Sydney time. The contract yesterday climbed 86 cents to $96.33, the highest close since Aug. 22. Prices are 2.7 percent lower this year.


CORPORATE NEWS

AirAsia's 2nd quarter revenue rises 9pc to RM1.18b: the budget carrier now recognised profit from its affiliates Thai AirAsia of RM11.9 million and Asian Aviation Centre of Excellence of RM2.2 million.

IHH Healthcare posts healthy Q2: the biggest healthcare services provider in Asia, saw its second quarter net profit jump by fivefold mainly due to a one-off gain.

Btimes

Wah Seong completes buy: has completed the acquisition of 57.7 million shares in Petra Energy Bhd at RM1.68 per share. Stock market data showed the shares, representing a 26.9% stake, were transacted in several off-market deals yesterday. At RM1.68, this was 23 sen below Monday's closing price of RM1.91.

Bonia gets take-over offer: from Freeway Team Sdn Bhd, Chiang Sang Sem and Chiang Fong Yee (the joint offerors) to buy the 49.83% stake in the company which is not already owned by the joint offerors and the persons acting in concert (PACs) with them for RM2.04 per share.

StarbIz


Source:Jupiter Securities Research 29 August 2012