Hang Seng Index comes within 0.37 per cent of surpassing the 30,000 level last seen on May 3, 2019 Technology stocks rally with Meituan, China Mobile and Tencent rising more than 2 per cent; bourse operator HKEX reaches another record
There might be a U turn after pandemic and next GE because the main reason to cancel this project is due to malaysia financial problem in the pandemic !
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — Malaysia added another 3,048 more Covid-19 infections on the eve of the original expiry of the renewed movement control order, prompting Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah to say the country’s situation could stabilise soon. The Health director-general said the basic reproduction number (R0) of Covid-19 infections was already showing signs of decline, adding that it should soon be as low as 1.06. Today’s new cases were the lowest across the last 10 days in which the country also saw its highest ever new daily cases.
PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry has hinted that the current movement control order (MCO) will end, followed by three months of conditional MCO. Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the government is not keen to implement the MCO for a long period due to the livelihoods it could affect. “We do not want to prolong the MCO. “If we implement the MCO for four weeks until early February, and then followed by a conditional MCO for three months, we hope we can reduce the number of Covid-19 cases to double figures,” said Dr Noor Hisham at a virtual press conference on Monday (Jan 25). He said the current R0 (infectivity rate, pronounced R-naught) has gone down from 1.2 to 1.06, indicating that Covid-19 cases may be getting less. “Today the number of cases is 3,048, which is less than yesterday (3,346 cases on Sunday). “We hope the cases can stabilise at 3,000. Right now, the R0 has gone down from 1.2 to 1.06. But this is not enough. “Tomorrow, it could be less than 1.06. Better if it is less than 1. “So we are hoping in the first two weeks of the MCO, the number of cases is stable, and no increases. “And then, after Jan 27, we expect to see the number of cases go down, ” said Dr Noor Hisham. He said a prolonged MCO will be detrimental to the economy. “If we prolong the MCO, our economy could be affected. We need to balance health and economy, as well as life and livelihood,” he added. The MCO was first imposed from Jan 13 in several states and the Federal Territories for a period of two weeks, and was initially supposed to end on Jan 26. It was then extended to all states and the Federal Territories, except Sarawak, and will last until Feb 4.
Covid-19: Malaysia snaps five-thousand streak as new cases drop to 4,214; 10 more deaths reported Syafiqah Salim / theedgemarkets.com February 01, 2021 18:26 pm +08
RTS Link will add value to Iskandar Malaysia properties’
By ZAZALI MUSA METRO NEWS Monday, 18 Jan 2021
THE Iskandar Malaysia property market will benefit immensely from the Rapid Transit System Link (RTS Link) connecting Johor Baru and Singapore development.
KGV International Property Consultants (M) Sdn Bhd director Samuel Tan Wee Cheng said in particular, properties located within a 5km radius from the RTS station would benefit the most.
“Connectivity and accessibility between Johor Baru and Singapore will be enhanced once the project is up and running by 2026, ” he said when contacted.
Tan said the project would help ease the infamous traffic congestion along the 1.05km Causeway, a road and rail link between Johor Baru and Singapore.
Completed in 1924, the Causeway is the busiest border checkpoint in the world, with an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 travellers daily before the Covid-19 pandemic affected travel between both countries last year.
Tan said compared to a few hours drive via the Causeway, during peak hours prior to the movement control order, the RTS services would offer seamless travel time below 10 minutes.
“Residential developments in Johor Baru, especially those within close proximity to the RTS, will attract demand for various groups, ” he added.
They include Malaysians working in Singapore, Singaporeans capitalising on the relatively lower cost of living in Johor Baru as well as investors.
He said better connectivity and accessibility would also boost demand for commercial developments in the Iskandar Malaysia region.
Tan said some companies in Singapore might set up businesses in Iskandar Malaysia to capitalise on its lower cost base, once the bad traffic congestion of the Causeway was resolved.
“Nevertheless, the boost in demand for commercial development will take time and other factors such as government policies as well as social, economic and political dynamics come into play in attracting these businesses, ” he pointed out.
In general, Tan said, the demand for high-rise residences close to the RTS station would also improve, but that depended on a confluence of other interrelated factors, including the economic outlook and sentiment, job security and bringing the pandemic under control.
The take-up rate for different locations and projects would vary with some locations or projects seeing immediate improvement in terms of take-up rate and price while others would take longer to pick up, he said.
In drawing a comparison, he added that the price range for new high-rise residences in locations near Johor Baru city centre was around RM600 to RM1,200 per square foot, while the average price of condominiums in Woodlands, considered an outskirts area, was around S$1,000 per square foot (RM3,000).
“The price disparity will be far greater if we were to compare it to prime locations in Singapore where the high-rise property is easily three times more expensive.”
Tan said once the RTS Link was ready in six years and the pandemic brought under control,
businesses in downtown Johor Baru and matured housing areas would definitely improve.
More day-trippers and weekend travellers from Singapore would venture across to Johor Baru using the RTS Link service.
“This is especially so if the relative currency rate remains favourable to the Singapore currency, ” he added.
TEBRAU TEGUH BHD (TTB) had its first taste of success in its bid to become a high-end property player, showing that an almost two-year transition, driven by its biggest shareholder Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (IWH), has worked.
The maiden launch of its first high-end project, Botanika @ Tebrau Coast, on May 10 and 11 attracted good response. The first block, comprising 264 residential units priced at RM550 psf, was sold within hours via balloting, TTB says in a statement.
Executive director Calvin Wong says 70% of the buyers were from Johor, with the rest from Singapore. He notes that the price was at a premium to the market rate in the vicinity of less than RM500 psf.
Botanika @ Tebrau Coast is a waterfront development that spans 12 acres and comprises three high-rise blocks with a total of 792 residential units. It overlooks Sungai Tebrau and Sungai Plentong, and is accessible to the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex and to Singapore via the Eastern Dispersal Link Expressway.
“We are going through a transition into a different era, with a focus on high-end residential properties from housing developments previously. We want to create a different perception of TTB,” Wong tells The Edge.
The success of Botanika @ Tebrau Coast could serve as a catalyst for TTB, which saw its share price rise from RM1.24 at the beginning of April to settle at RM1.37 on May 14, giving it a market capitalisation of RM904 million.
In fact, in line with the boom in the Johor property market, TTB’s share price doubled over the past two years. IWH had acquired a 47.16% stake in the developer in August 2012 at 76 sen per share.
IWH, which is spearheading luxury waterfront developments in Danga Bay, Johor, is a joint venture between tycoon Tan Sri Lim Kang Hoo and Johor investment vehicle Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor Bhd (KPRJ), with Lim holding a the majority stake.
KPRJ has an 8% direct stake in TTB, apart from interests held through IWH.
When it was under KPRJ, TTB mostly focused on low and medium-cost housing in the state. But after the change in major shareholder two years ago, it made a strategic decision to go for high-end projects to boost revenue and yields.
The fact that TTB’s market capitalisation is now RM904 million, compared with its net asset value of RM542.8 million, shows that investors have high hopes for its landbank.
Wong believes the transformation will catapult TTB into a much more prolific player. Without revealing the potential gross development value (GDV) of projects in the pipeline, he says the company has close to 1,000 acres in the state that will be transformed into a waterfront development dubbed the “Tebrau Coast”, akin to the Danga Bay development under its parent, IWH.
The Tebrau Coast masterplan will see the creation of five new precincts — Tebrau River City Hub, Molek Landing, Plentong Cove, Tebrau Waterfront City and Tebrau Riverwalk — over the next 10 to 15 years.However, 70% of TTB’s Johor landbank is submerged and still needs to be reclaimed. This raises the question of whether TTB can be competitive without its margins being squeezed too much.
According to Wong, Botanika @ Tebrau Coast is giving TTB a “very good margin” at an average price of RM550 psf. However, it should be noted that this project is sited on 12 acres of ready leasehold land at Mukim Plentong with no need for reclamation.
On other projects, Wong says “I don’t foresee the [high cost of reclamation] being a challenge for TTB as the company has a track record in reclamation”.
He adds that the company will start reclaiming some of the submerged areas in Sungai Plentong area soon, and is exploring funding options. With more than RM63 million in debt and cash balances of just over RM80 million, it may need to recapitalise and gear up to fund the reclamation.
“The reclamation process and building of infrastructure will take a maximum of one year to complete,” Wong says. He would not say how much the reclamation would cost, but hopes to iron things out within the next “one to two” months.
The reclamation cost would add to TTB’s total land carrying cost of about RM586.6 million for 381.92ha or close to 1,000 acres, translating into RM14.30 psf as at December 2012.
However, Lim, the major shareholder of IWH and hence TTB, is no stranger to land reclamation. The tycoon used hundreds of millions of ringgit of his own money to kick-start the Danga Bay waterfront development almost two decades ago.
At that time, not many financial institutions were willing to fund reclamation projects as they did not want to take submerged land as collateral. But this did not stop Lim, who wanted to transform JB into a waterfront city like Hong Kong-Shenzhen.
He told The Edge in a past interview that he did not regret the purchase of over 2,000 acres of waterfront land at Danga Bay during the 1997/98 financial crisis for over RM250 million or a mere RM2.86 psf. He dismissed talk that he secured the waterfron
IWCITY is related to Bandar Malaysia. Refer study note #5 below.
BANDAR MALAYSIA, THE LARGEST DEVELOPMENT PROJECT EVER. Bandar Malaysia is Malaysia’s biggest development project in Malaysian history. It has a Gross Development Value (GDV) of RM140 billion. INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT. The RM140 billion integrated development will feature integrated components covering finance, technology, medical science, education, tourism and entrepreneurship, as well as being an intelligent city. RESTART PROJECT IN 2021. The Bandar Malaysia was slated to begin in March 2020, but had been delayed due to Covid-19 Project Master Developer. It is expected to restart in 2021 – exact month and date to be announced. MR. LIM KANG HOO, EKOVEST, IWCITY. Refer figure above for shareholding structure: Bandar Malaysia’s master developer is Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd. IWH-CREC owns 60% of Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd. Iskandar Waterfront Holdings owns 60% of IWH-CREC. Mr. Lim Kang Hoo owns 63% of Iskandar Waterfront Holdings. Lim is the controlling shareholder of both IWH and Ekovest - He holds a 63% stake in IWH and a 32.4% stake in Ekovest. ‘With the estimated gross development value of RM140 billion for Bandar Malaysia, Ekovest must have participation with IWH together with CREC,’ Mr. Lim Kang Hoo told The Edge in an interview on September 16.
This book is the result of the author's many years of experience and observation throughout his 26 years in the stockbroking industry. It was written for general public to learn to invest based on facts and not on fantasies or hearsay....
meadow1628
1,084 posts
Posted by meadow1628 > 2021-01-20 12:34 | Report Abuse
Hang Seng Index renews attempt at 30,000 level as Hong Kong stocks rally on mainland fund inflows
Iris Ouyang Published: 11.02am, 20-1-2021
https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/3118428/hang-seng-index-renews-attempt-30000-level-hong-kong-stocks-rally
Hang Seng Index comes within 0.37 per cent of surpassing the 30,000 level last seen on May 3, 2019
Technology stocks rally with Meituan, China Mobile and Tencent rising more than 2 per cent; bourse operator HKEX reaches another record