On Tuesday, we attended the briefing by TASCO as part of theInvestor Relations Day co-organized by Malaysia Investor Relations Associationand ZJ Advisory. The  briefing reaffirmedour view of TASCO as the top pick in our Logistics universe for its: (i)healthy growth in its sea and air freight business, (ii) expanding 3rd PartyLogistics volume from its existing clients, and (iii) low PER, at 6x FY12 EPSvs the industry average of 7x. We keep our BUY call, but upgrade our FV fromRM2.33 to RM2.48, pegging the stock at a slightly higher PER of 7x, which is inline with the industry average PER, from 6.5x previously.

Battle for 1,600. The FBM KLCI rallied to a high of 1602.34pts but could not sustain its move above the 1,600-pt psychological level. Atthe end of the day, the benchmark closed 2.67 pts higher at 1598.86.  Today'snews  headlines include: IMF revises up Malaysia'sGDP growth from 4.0% to 4.4% for 2012 and projects a 4.7% growth in 2013, PublicBank reports a RM940.8m 1Q net profit and Century Software receives two letter ofawards from Malaysia's Inland Revenue worth RM5.6m, Meanwhile, DRB-Hicom signs cooperationagreement with TATA Motors to develop, promote and market TATA military vehiclesand Eversendai was appointed as subcontractor for  the National Museum of Qatar package 2 worth RM134m. The Dow closed 83 ptslower  but stayed above the 13,000-ptlevel, while Europe also lost ground with the Dax losing 1.0% and the CAC 40 downby 1.6%. Some downward pressure could be expected for the local market as long asit fails to break above the 1,600 level.

Public Bank posted another record net profit for its 1Qended Mar 2012, buoyed by strong loan growth, higher deposits and non-interestincome, and the application of new accounting policies The banking group's netprofit grew 6.4% to RM940.8m for the quarter in review, from RM884.1m for thecorresponding period a year earlier. (Financial Daily) Please see accompanyingreport

Century Software SB has accepted two letters of award fromthe Internal Revenue Board to carry out accounting system projects worth RM5.6mThe first project will commence from 1 Jan for three years and the second will commencefrom the date of acceptance of the letter of award for a period of two yearsand three months. (Financial Daily) Please see accompanying report

The Malaysian and Singaporean governments will appoint aforeign consultant by early next month to undertake a detailed study on theproposed Rapid Transit System (RTS) linking Johor Baru and the island republic.It is understood that the study, which will take six to 12 months to complete,will determine the best options for the RTS development and project cost.People familiar with the matter said several options were being considered byboth governments. They said the governments were mulling whether to build anelevated rail and road link or underground tunnels between the two cities.  (BT)

Defence Technologies SB (DefTech), a wholly-owned defencearm of DRB-Hicom, yesterday signed a cooperation agreement with India's TataMotors Ltd to develop, promote and market the latter's military vehicles. Thecooperation agreement will enable both DefTech and Tata to promote the highmobility 4x4 trucks with payloads ranging from 2.5 to five tonnes to theMalaysian government. (Malaysian Reserve)

Eversendai Corporation's subsidiary has secured a RM134m sub-contract for the second package ofthe National Museum of Qatar. It said on Wednesday the subsidiary, EversendaiEngineering Qatar W.L.L, was awarded the contract by the main contractor  Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co.Ltd. The scope of work includes design, fabrication and building of steelstructures. (StarBiz)

US-based solar panel manufacturer First Solar Inc announcedon Tuesday the shutdown of its manufacturing plant in Frankfurt, Germany. Inaddition, beginning May, the company plans to indefinitely shut down four more productionlines at its plant in Kulim, Kedah. According to the company, this is tofacilitate the restructuring of its operations due to deteriorating marketconditions in Europe. The company also hopes to cut costs and explore newmarket opportunities. (Malaysian Reserve)

JCY International's second-quarter earnings could be asstrong as its first-quarter figures. Southeast Asia's largest technologycompany is expected to release its second-quarter earnings by the middle ofnext month. "Our production output should be on target," said JCYfinance director, James Wong, in an interview with Business Times recently. Headded that the company has been doing well in the current quarter (second quarter),subject to external factors such as fluctuations in the currency markets. (BT)

Indian consumer-price inflation accelerated in March as thecost of egg, vegetables, fish and meat products rose, the government said. Theconsumer-price index climbed 9.47% y-o-y, compared with an 8.83% advance in February,the central statistics office said in a statement yesterday. The Reserve Bankof India cut interest rates earlier this week for the first time since 2009 onslowing growth even as it said upside risks to inflation were limiting room forfurther easing. The country's benchmark wholesale-price index rose 6.89% inMarch, slower than the 6.95% pace in February. (Bloomberg)

China's home prices fell in a record 37 of 70 cities trackedby the government in March as officials pledged to keep restrictions onproperty purchases that have sapped buyer demand. The eastern city of Wenzhouled declines with a 9% slump in values from a year earlier, while Beijing andShanghai recorded drops of 0.8%, according to data released by the statisticsbureau yesterday. Yesterday's release underscores forecasts for China'seconomic growth to slow further this quarter after the rate reached the lowestlevel in almost three years in the three months through March. (Bloomberg)

UK jobless claims rose less than economists forecast inMarch and a broader measure of unemployment fell for the first time for almosta year, signs that the labour market is stabilizing as the economy recovers.Joblessbenefit claims rose by 3,600 from February to 1.61m, the Office forNational Statistics said yesterday. Unemployment as measured by InternationalLabour Organization methods fell to 8.3% in the quarter through February from a16-year high of 8.4%. (Bloomberg)

Production at US factories dropped in March for the firsttime in four months as the industry cooled following the strongest surge inthree decades.  Manufacturing, whichmakes up about 75% of industrial output, decreased 0.2% last month as applianceand furniture makers cut back, data from the Federal Reserve showed today in Washington.The decline followed a revised 3.4% gain from December through February thatmarked the biggest three-month jump since March 1984. (Bloomberg)

Source: OSK188