6.4% economic growth last quarter

February 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s economy recorded a spectacular performance in the last quarter of 2012, growing 6.4%.

This is the highest quarterly growth since two and a half years ago and was buoyed by robust manufacturing and construction sectors.

It supported the overall economic growth for 2012 that expanded to 5.6% compared to 5.1% in 2011.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast that the growth of the fourth quarter would accelerate to 5.5% from 5.2% in the previous three-month period, and forecast a full-year growth at 5.3%.

All sectors registered positive growth with the services, manufacturing and construction sectors continuing to be the key drivers in the supply side.

Many experts believed that the Economic Transformation Programme, with its multi-billion projects, had to a great extent supported the growth in the construction sector that carried spill-over effects onto other sectors.

Bank Negara Malaysia said total investment remained robust and was the main driver of growth during the quarter.

“The growth of private consumption continued to remain strong although the pace of increase moderated.

“The growth during the quarter also benefited from a significantly lower negative contribution from net exports.

“On the supply side, most economic sectors recorded improvements in growth during the quarter,” it said in a statement yesterday.

The main drivers of the economy in the fourth quarter included domestic demand that continued to expand by 7.5%.

Private sector investment advanced by 20.2% supported by capital spending in the domestic-oriented manufacturing and consumer-related services sub-sectors, namely telecommunications, real estate and aviation and the on-going implementation of projects in the oil and gas sector.

Investment was also supported by capacity expansion in the primary-related manufacturing cluster and capital spending in new growth areas such as medical and communications equipment.

Public investment expanded by 11.1%, driven by capital spending by public enterprises in the transportation, utilities, oil and gas and communications sectors.

Bank Negara said the headline inflation rate, as measured by the annual change in the Consumer Price Index, continued to moderate to 1.3% in the fourth quarter.

Going forward, Bank Negara said there were emerging signs of improvements in the global economy where the latest economic indicators also suggested further stabilisation in growth performance in Asia.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak noted that the growth was among the highest in the world and the highest in this region.

“This success is possible only because of the peace and stability that we have in the country now,” he stressed.

 

Source by: The Star

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Filed Under: Equities, Bonds, Mutual Funds, NON-PROPERTY INVESTMENT Tagged With: , , ,

KL shares open higher, KLCI hits new high

April 3, 2012 By 1 Comment

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened on a positive note today on continued positive sentiment in the local bourse, dealers said.

The market rose 3.35 points to an all-time high of 1,607.13 at the opening before retreating slightly to 1,606.89 at 9.29 am.

HwangDBS Vickers Research expects the local bourse to extend its gains as global economic sentiment improved while investors mull the Economic Transformation Programme’s 2011 scorecard, released yesterday, which exceeded targets.

“The US indices was 0.4-0.9 per cent higher at the closing bell, driven by better-than-expected manufacturing data, as well as an 11-month high in the Chinese purchasing manufacturing index,” it said in a statement.

The Finance Index gained 40.28 points to 14,466.26, the Industrial Index rose 4.79 points to 2,897.64 but the Plantation Index slipped 9.68 points to 8,796.61.

The FBM Emas Index improved 24.11 points to 11,015.53, the FBM70 Index surged 40.021 points to 12,123.74 and the FBM ACE Index added 24.97 points to 4,579.92.

Advancers led decliners 207 to 83, 176 counters were unchanged, 1,047 untraded and 25 suspended. Turnover stood at 155.73 million shares worth RM100.53 million.

Of actives, Ingenuity Solutions and Metronic Global added half-a-sen each to 11 sen and 19 sen, respectively, while Naim Indah and Fast Track earned one sen each to 46.5 sen and 10 sen, respectively.

Heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM8.97, Sime Darby and Petronas Chemicals increased one sen each to RM9.89 and RM6.73, respectively, while CIMB was flat at RM7.79. — Bernama

Source by: Business Times

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The Evolution of SOHO

March 28, 2012 By 1 Comment

SOHO refers to small office home office or single office home, it is beginning to mark its presence in cities around the world and its popularity has gained momentum in Malaysia. In this high-tech age, SOHO has evolved to be a modern day life-style for the fast-pace world. SOHO’s concept fits in nicely with the modern life-style of city folks as it can be used as an office space cum living with full facilities and services to its tenant. As such, the folks can operate their businesses more cost effectively and in the convenient and comfort of their home.

In the 60’s, SOHO trend began setting its foot in Manhattan. Back then, it is merely a ‘Cast Iron District’ not cater specifically for residential purposes. In those days, the Cast Iron District comprised mainly of warehouses and factories with cobblestone laying its streets occupied mostly by small businessmen, low-income labourers who were mostly illegal immigrants. These people worked and stayed at the same place to save cost. As such, it was then deemed illegal until the 80’s.

In the 80’s, due to rapid increase in population resulting in congestions and high cost of operation in the commercial area, the idea of decentralisation was then mooted to ease the situation. Presently, with the introduction of electronic devices that makes communication within finger-tips, many entrepreneurs, researchers and other professionals find it a convenient way to handle business dealing at home. This mode of operation actually minimise operational cost and increase efficiency and productivity.

Likewise, in Malaysia, since the trend of SOHO trend marked its spot around 4 to 5 years ago, the working behaviour and pattern among the Malaysian especially the young executives and businessmen had changed tremendously. With the SOHO life-style, they can now plan their time usage more effectively and efficiently. The flexible working hours and time saved on unnecessary travelling on the road and mingling among staffs and clients can be better used for their other purposes without compromising on result.

A SOHO life-style offers its tenants an effective, functional working and dwelling area without the pressure of a conventional work office. Being in the comfort of your “own home”, It offers the tenants easiness and peace of mind to concentrate on his or her everyday work.

Due to its tenants’ profile, developers usually choose a site to develop SOHO project where public transportation is near. There are several up and coming SOHO projects in Malaysia. Notably, the Centrio SOHO in Bangsar, Empire Subang SOHO in Subang Jaya, Empire Damansara SOHO in Damansara Perdana, PJ5 SOHO in Kelana Jaya, the Ascott SOHO in Old Klang Road and Parklane SOHO Duplex Suites in ss7 Kelana Jaya. The numerous project mentioned is a clear indication that the SOHO life-style is the “things to come” in Malaysia.

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Japan agency keen to fund projects in Malaysia

March 28, 2012 By 1 Comment

THE Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) is offering soft loans for several government-funded projects, such as the MY Rapid Transit (MRT) project.

Jica senior representative for Malaysia Khoyo Okubo said the agency is also interested to fund the development of the light rail transit (LRT) extension project and the high-speed train linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

“If there are funding requests from the Malaysian government for some of these projects, we will consider it as we are bullish on the prospects here,” she said at a luncheon yesterday to introduce Jica Malaysia’s new chief representative, Kunihiko Sato.

Jica, which scrutinises funds under Japan’s official development assistance, has been providing soft loans to the Malaysian government in the last 40 years for projects in the construction, environment, education, healthcare and transportation sectors.

Among the projects were the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the Port Klang power station, the Bintulu deepwater port, the Johor port, the Tenom Pangi hydroelectric, the Batang Ai hydroelectric, and the Seremban-Ayer Hitam expressway.

In March 2005, Jica had inked an agreement with the Malaysian government to provide soft loan of RM3.3 billion for the Pahang-Selangor raw water transfer project.

The amount is to build a 44.6km water transfer tunnel, an intake and pumping station, an 11.8km double pipeline and an earthfill dam. Japan’s Taisei Group and Shimizu are involved in the project.

Meanwhile, Sato said Jica would like to support Malaysia so that the country could achieve its development target.

Source by: Business Times

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KL stock trading likely to be rangebound

March 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It’s probably going to stay this way for a few good weeks or months before the general elections, says a dealer from a Malaysian brokerage firm.

THE stock market’s benchmark index is likely to trade rangebound this week, with a slight upward bias amid a lack of strong leads.

The FBM KLCI inched up steadily last week, gaining 0.9 per cent to close at 1,585.83 on Friday, outperforming regional and US markets which were on correction mode.

“We’ve come to a sort of rangebound trade for now and it’s probably going to stay this way for a few good weeks or months before the general elections (GE),” said a dealer from a local brokerage firm.

Foreign investors will not participate in the market in a big way until the GE is over and there is more certainty to its outcome, he added.

In the meantime, there are foreign short-term funds buying into some index-linked stocks.

Stocks that are deemed to benefit from the Economic Transformation Programme projects like Gamuda Bhd may be in focus as the government hands out more contracts ahead of the GE, analysts aid.

RHB Capital Bhd-OSK Holdings and SapuraCrest-Kencana Petroleum may also be in the spotlight on ongoing merger-related news.

“Due to the FBM KLCI improving technical readings, there could be one more upleg to retest 1,597 (historical high) if immediate resistance at March 7′s pivot high of 1,585 is violated. Otherwise, the market is expected to stay rangebound,” said Hong leong Investment Bank Research in a report last Friday.

It said that in the wake of volatile overseas markets and looming 13th GE, it prefers to focus on defensive stocks, solid net cash companies with potentials of merger and acquisitions or capital management, as well as high dividend yielders.

“Overall, investors should capitalise on further rallies to trim their shareholdings and stay nimble amid volatile external markets,” it said.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Index Average had its worst week of the year, falling by 1.2 per cent to 13,080.73.

This week, investors will be watching out for more economic data coming out from the world’s largest economy such as fourth-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday.

Source by: Business Times

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