MARKET ROUNDUP (Source Bloomberg)

U.S. Equity Index Futures Retreat With Oil, Gold; signaling the Standard & Poor's 500 Index may extend losses following its worst weekly drop since June. Oil and gold fell. The S&P 500 lost 1.3 percent to 1,440.67 last week amid concern Europe's debt crisis may worsen and stimulus measures may not be enough to boost economic growth.

China's manufacturing contracted for an 11th straight month, a private survey found, increasing pressure on the government to bolster growth in the world's second-largest economy. The purchasing managers' index from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics was at 47.9 for September from 47.6 in August. Export orders declined at the fastest pace in 42 months and purchasing activity in manufacturing fell for a fifth month, the Sept. 29 report showed.

European Stocks Post Biggest Weekly Decline Since June; as concern that the latest round of bond buying in the U.S. will fail to encourage growth offset speculation China may announce further stimulus measures. France's CAC 40 Index dropped 5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell 1.9 percent, and Germany's DAX Index retreated 3.2 percent.

Oil Declines From One-Week High as China Manufacturing Weakens; as manufacturing in China contracted for an 11th month, raising speculation fuel demand may decline in the world's second biggest crude consumer. Crude for November delivery fell as much as 59 cents to $91.60 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $91.84 at 8:33 a.m. Sydney time. It climbed 0.4 percent to $92.19 on Sept. 28, the highest close since Sept. 21. Prices increased 8.5 percent in the third quarter.


CORPORATE NEWS

MARC: Unstable labour market can affect growth; Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd (MARC) concurs with the Finance Ministry's (MoF) forecast of gross domestic product (GDP) growth of between 4.5% and 5.5% for 2013, but cautions that instability in the labour market can affect headline growth. MARC, which forecast a 5.3% GDP growth, said in a statement yesterday it concurred with the MoF's view that external sector would experience a slight recovery but growth would be largely dependent on domestic sources.

CPO futures prices likely to trade between RM2,400 and RM2,500 this week; market is expected to continue volatile trading, but increasing physical buying activities would cushion the movement.

StarbIz


'AirAsia's Jakarta move not a sudden decision'; Fernandes insists that AirAsia's move to Jakarta, which he announced in June, is to help turn it into a global brand instead of it being a Malaysian brand.

DiGi to focus on mobile business for now; the country's third largest mobile operator with more than 10 million customers, said it will focus on growing its mobile business and has no immediate plans to go into the fixed-line broadband services.

Btimes

Source:Jupiter Securities Research, 01 October 2012