The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- M'sian market near one-year low(update)
- Bartz sacked as CEO of Yahoo(update)
- Oil tumbles on fears of economic slump
| M'sian market near one-year low(update) Posted: 06 Sep 2011 06:58 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: The sell-offs last month amid bearish sentiments have sent the local bourse's benchmark index to levels not seen since last September when talk of further merger and acquisition activities drove the market higher. Markets in the region closed lower with financial stocks leading the declines on concerns over the euro-zone's widening crisis while prospects for global growth looked ever gloomier. At Bursa Malaysia, losers outpaced gainers 423 to 253 while 279 other counters were traded unchanged. There were 706.60 million shares traded with a total turnover of RM1.51bil. Affin Investment Bank Bhd research head Andy Ong said in a report that last month saw the steepest monthly outflow of net foreign selling from the local equity market since October 2009. "The August 2011 outflow is almost triple the RM1.3bil outflow in May 2010, a heightened period of risk aversion on concerns of eurozone's sovereign debt strain," he said, adding that the consolidation in April/May last year saw Asian markets pull back 7% to 23% similar to the recent sell-offs. Foreigners sold RM3.8bil of equities in August as they fled to safe-haven investments such as gold, yen, Swiss franc and US Treasuries. Ong said the previous sharpest selldown was in February this year amounting to RM3.4bil during the regional portfolio re-balancing exercise that saw a shift in funds out of emerging markets into the more cyclical North Asian and developed markets. Analysts have revised their year-end targets for the FBM KLCI and have recommended for now a sell-into-rebound strategy as the outlook remains unclear with external negative news flows coupled with weaker earnings dampening investor sentiments. Maybank Investment Bank Bhd acting research head Wong Chew Hann said in another report that there could still be some near-term downside potential as August's net activities reversed out just 58% of the total net foreign buying in April to July. "We expect volatility to persist with growing uneasiness in the eurozone and United States," she said. World Bank president Robert Zoellick told Bloomberg in an interview yesterday that risks to the global economy was intensifying with the euro-zone's outlook dependent on right decisions being taken by policymakers. "We're moving into a dangerous period," he said, adding that the 17-member currency union was facing a particularly sensitive time. European markets opened higher although trading was volatile with the Stoxx Euro 600 Index opening lower. US equity futures were down with the S&P 500 futures shedding 1.53% and the Dow Jones futures dropping 1.45% at 5pm. Spot gold, which surged to above US$1,920 per ounce, hovered around US$1,890 at press time while US Treasury yields fell as demand rose. Nymex crude oil was US$1.75 lower at US$84.70 per barrel at press time while crude palm oil for December delivery hovered below RM3,000 per tonne. On Wednesday morning Bernama reported that share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened higher today on bargain hunting as investors took advantage of the recent sell-off in line with gains on the Asian markets , dealers said. After 16 minutes of trading, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI advanced 6.99 points to 1,461.36 after opening 3.68 points higher at 1,458.05 led by selected heavyweights including Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK), MISC, DIGI and Telekom. KLK added 38 sen to RM21.68, MISC rose 15 sen to RM7.10, DIGI advanced 16 sen to RM31.30 and Telekom gained 12 sen to RM4.44. HwangDBS Vickers Research said though Wall Street fell last night, with its key stock indices down between 0.3 per cent and 0.9 per cent at the closing bell, Asian equities may show a sense of calmness today after coming under selling pressure yesterday. "Back home, we expect the benchmark FBM KLCI to recover part of its 20-point or 1.3 per cent cumulative loss suffered over the past two days. "Nevertheless, from a technical perspective, the bellwether will probably struggle to break past the immediate resistance threshold of 1,465 ahead," said the research house. On Bursa Malaysia, the Finance Index perked 37.24 points to 13,747.70, the Plantation Index jumped 44.82 points to 7,293.82 and the Industrial Index gained 20.25 points to 2,692.18. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Emas Index rose 42.69 points to 9,980.36, the Malaysia Mid 70 Index added 31.36 points to 10,810.13 and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Ace Index increased 14.68 points to 3,769.80. Gainers led losers 108 to 53 while 100 counters were unchanged, 1,232 untraded and 26 others suspended. A total of 32.92 million shares worth RM41.3 million were traded. Among actives, Eastern & Oriental was flat at RM1.76, Takaso Resources rose half-a-sen to 22.5 sen, Eden Inc added one sen to 30 sen and Time DotCom gained 1.5 sen to 56.5 sen. For heavyweights, Maybank dropped one sen to RM8.67, CIMB and Petronas Chemicals earned one sen each to RM7.31 and RM6.31, respectively, and Sime Darby was up two sen to RM8.72. |
| Bartz sacked as CEO of Yahoo(update) Posted: 06 Sep 2011 06:51 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO: Carol Bartz was fired Tuesday as Yahoo Inc.'s CEO nearly three years into a tenure in which the company fell short of the turnaround she was charged with leading. The company said Bartz will be replaced by Chief Financial Officer Timothy Morse on an interim basis. The company plans to search for a permanent replacement for Bartz. Bartz, 63, has had a rocky tenure at Yahoo since she was appointed CEO in January 2009. Most recently, Yahoo settled a dispute surrounding a Chinese payment service called Alipay in a way that ended up diminishing Yahoo's stake in the company. Bartz was hired in January 2009 to engineer a turnaround after Yahoo fell further behind Internet search leader Google Inc. under its two previous CEOs, its co-founder Jerry Yang and former movie studio boss Terry Semel. Yahoo made more money under Bartz because of layoffs, service closures and other cost-cutting moves since her arrival. Google, though, has gotten even stronger in the past two years while Facebook, the owner of the Web's most popular hangout, has emerged as a formidable threat that's attracting more of the major marketing campaigns that once went to Yahoo. The departure was first reported by the Wall Street Journal's All Things D technology blog. Yahoo shares jumped 74 cents, or 5.7 percent, to $13.65 in after-hours trading. That's about 12 percent higher than they were when Bartz was named CEO. - AP Earlier report SAN FRANCISCO: Carol Bartz is no longer CEO of Yahoo Inc., according to a report by the Wall Street Journal's All Things D technology blog. The situation around her departure is unclear, the report said, citing anonymous sources. But the blog says Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse has been named interim CEO. Bartz sent an e-mail out to employees saying she had been fired by Chairman Roy Bostock Tuesday, the blog reported. Bartz, 63, has had a rocky tenure at Yahoo since she was appointed CEO in January 2009. Most recently, Yahoo settled a dispute surrounding a Chinese payment service called Alipay in a way that ended up diminishing Yahoo's stake in the company. Yahoo shares jumped 74 cents, or 5.7 percent, to $13.65 in after-hours trading. - AP |
| Oil tumbles on fears of economic slump Posted: 06 Sep 2011 06:40 PM PDT NEW YORK: Oil dropped more than 2 percent Tuesday on fears that the U.S. and Europe are headed for a prolonged economic slump. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude lost $2.01 to $84.44 per barrel in New York. The U.S. economy is struggling to grow, and investors remain tentative after the government reported last week that the economy failed to add jobs in August. Europe's debt crisis has also raised doubts about further economic recovery there. "Confidence is not high," said Cameron Hanover analyst Peter Beutel. Beutel said investors are waiting for President Obama and the Federal Reserve to explain how they'll stimulate the economy and create jobs. With the unemployment rate hovering at 9.1 percent, "it will take something major from the White House or from the Fed to turn this around," Beutel said. Earlier this year, economists predicted that a rebounding global economy would push world oil demand to record levels in 2011. Now, analysts say they're not so sure it's going to happen. China and other developing nations are still going to drive oil demand. But they won't grow as fast if consumers in the U.S. and Europe cut back on purchases of clothing, toys, electronics and other goods that are made in foreign factories. "Oil demand both domestically and globally will fall short of most expectations during the current second half of 2011," independent analyst Jim Ritterbusch said. Meanwhile, retail gasoline was flat overnight at a national average of $3.66 per gallon. A gallon of regular unleaded is 97.7 cents higher than it was a year ago. In other trading, heating oil lost 1.45 cents to $2.9829 per gallon and gasoline futures dropped 4.85 cents to $2.7911 per gallon. Natural gas was essentially flat at $3.868 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude, which is used to price many international oil varieties, rose $1.67 to $111.75 per barrel. - AP |
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