The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- Malaysia-Market factors to watch on Sept 27(Thursday)
- Wall Street falls as euro-zone protests escalate
- Samsung to shop for software to compete with Apple, Google and Amazon.com
| Malaysia-Market factors to watch on Sept 27(Thursday) Posted: 26 Sep 2012 05:38 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: Following is a list of events in Malaysia as well as news company-related and market news which could have an influence on the local market. GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks slip on Europe fears, Spain yields jump SE ASIA STOCKS-Mostly down; Bank of Ayudhya block sales drag Thai index WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MALAYSIA, IN TIMES LOCAL FOLLOWED BY GMT: * Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz delivers keynote address at a seminar on RMB Settlement for Trade and Investment in Malaysia: Future Prospects, Sasana Kijang, Bank Negara Malaysia 0900 am (0100). * Energy, Green Technology and Water Datuk Seri Peter Chin delivers keynote address at 4th National Energy Forum, Sheraton Imperial Hotel, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur 0900 am (0100). * International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed witnesses agreement signing on promotion and protection of Investment between Malaysia and San Marino, Zamrud Hall, Level 16, Block 10, off Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur, 1200pm (0200) * Permodalan Nasional Bhd delcares dividend for Amanah Saham 1Malaysia, Theatrette, 2nd Floor, PNB Tower, 201-A, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, 1200pm (0200) * International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Datuk Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir launches ZICO law application, Parkview 3, 2nd Floor, Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur, 0500pm (0900) MARKET NEWS > Nikkei drops as euro zone fear rears again > S&P 500 falls a 5th day as euro-zone tensions escalate > Prices rise as euro zone fears resurface > Euro stays under pressure, eyes on Italy bond sale > Gold down but off two-week low, EU debt crisis eyed > Oil falls as Europe's crisis reinforces growth worries > Palm oil falls on rising stocks, economic fears MALAYSIA IN THE NEWS: > Vitol trades Iranian fuel oil, skirting sanctions > Bursa Malaysia introduces rules to spur trade in bonds, sukuk > Malaysia's PM to bet on generous budget as election looms - Reuters DIARY - Malaysia-Sept 27 Thursday ALL TIMES ARE PROVISIONAL AND IN LOCAL TIME FOLLOWED BY GMT IN BRACKETS THURSDAY, SEP 27 SHAH ALAM - Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd launches Wakaf Selangor Muamalat at Concorde Hotel, Shah Alam at 0815am (0015). KUALA LUMPUR - International Malaysia Law Conference 2012 second day at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre at 0900am (0100). * KUALA LUMPUR - Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui delivers keynote address at 4th National Energy Forum at Sheraton Imperial Hotel, Kuala Lumpur at 0900am (0100). * KUALA LUMPUR - The Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia (ICAA) and The Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA) hosts ICCA-MICPA Audit forum theme 'Corporate Governance in Insurance Companies - The Role of Audit Committee' at Sime Darby Convention Centre at 0900am (0100). * KUALA LUMPUR - Molpay collaborates with MAD Incubator to boost e-commerce in Malaysia at Resources Centre, Technology Park Malaysia, Bukit Jalil at 0900am (0100). KUALA LUMPUR - Bank Negara Malaysia Governor, Zeti Akhtar Aziz delivers keynote address at Seminar on RMB Settlement for Trade and Investment in Malaysia: Future Prospects at Sasana Kijang, Bank Negara Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur at 0915am (0115). * PUTRAJAYA - Academy of Sciences Malaysia dialogue on 'Building National Commitment in Science and Technology' at Putrajaya International Convention Centre at 0930am (0130). * KUALA LUMPUR - The National Cancer Council Malaysia, MNRB Holdings Bhd and Yayasan Tenaga Nasional Bhd launching Malaysia's first Mobile Breast Cancer Screening Unit at Sekolah Sri Cempaka, Damansara Heights at 1030am (0230). * KUALA LUMPUR - Eastern & Oriental Bhd holds EGM at Sime Darby COnvention Centre, Kuala Lumpur at 1035am (0235). * KUALA LUMPUR - Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) holds signing with Republic of San Marino at the ministry (MITI), Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur at 1200pm (0400). * KUALA LUMPUR - Thailand Ambassador to Malaysia Thana Duangratana makes farewell courtesy call on Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin at Deputy Prime Miniser's Office, Parliament Building, Kuala Lumpur at 1200pm (0400). * KUALA LUMPUR - Permodalan Nasional Bhd declares dividen for Amanah Saham Malaysia at PNB Tower, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur at 1200pm (0400). * KUALA LUMPUR - Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin closes Literature and Language Festival at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur at 1500m (0700). * KUALA LUMPUR - Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Mukhriz Mahathir launches Zico law application at Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur at 1630pm (0830). * PETALING JAYA - The Malaysian International Gourmet Festival (MIGF) 2012 Gala launch and press conference at Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre at 1700pm (0900). * PUTRAJAYA - Prime Ministerr Najib Razak takes a look at preparations for tabling of Budget 2013 at Middle Block, Finance Ministry, Putrajaya at 2100pm (1300). FRIDAY, SEP 28 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of Aug 2012 Money Supply data FRIDAY, OCT 5 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of International Reserves as at 28 Sep 2012 and Aug 2012 External Trade data. MONDAY, OCT 8 KUALA LUMPUR - Hack In The Box 2012 Conference at Intercontinental Hotel Kuala Lumpur at 0900 (0100). (October 8th-11th) THURSDAY, OCT 11 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of Aug 2012 Index of Industrial Production (IPI) and Aug 2012 Manufacturing Sales. WEDNESDAY, OCT 17 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of Sep 2012 Consumer Price Index. MONDAY, OCT 22 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of International Reserves as at 15 Oct 2012 FRIDAY, OCT 26 KUALA LUMPUR - Market and Public Holiday - Aidil Adha. WEDNESDAY, OCT 31 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of Sep 2012 Money Supply data WEDNESDAY, NOV 7 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of International Reserves as at 31 Oct 2012 THURSDAY, NOV 8 KUALA LUMPUR - Monetary Policy Statement and release of Sep 2012 Index of Industrial Production (IPI) and Sep 2012 Manufacturing Sales. FRIDAY, NOV 9 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of Sep 2012 External Trade data. TUESDAY, NOV 13 KUALA LUMPUR - Market and Public Holiday - Deepavali THURSDAY, NOV 15 KUALA LUMPUR - Market and Public Holiday - Moslem New Year. FRIDAY, NOV 16 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of 3rd Quarter 2012 GDP. WEDNESDAY, NOV 21 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of Oct 2012 Consumer Price Index. THURSDAY, NOV 22 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of International Reserves as at 14 Nov 2012 FRIDAY, NOV 30 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of Oct 2012 Money Supply data FRIDAY, DEC 7 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of International Reserves as at 30 Nov 2012 and Oct 2012 External Trade data. TUESDAY, DEC 11 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of Oct 2012 Index of Industrial Production (IPI) and Oct 2012 Manufacturing Sales. WEDNESDAY, DEC 19 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of Nov 2012 Consumer Price Index. FRIDAY, DEC 21 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of International Reserves as at 14 Dec 2012. TUESDAY, DEC 25 KUALA LUMPUR - Market and Public Holiday - Christmas Day. MONDAY, DEC 31 KUALA LUMPUR - Release of Nov 2012 Money Supply data. - Reuters VEGOILS-Market factors to watch Sept 27 Thursday KUALA LUMPUR: The following factors are likely to influence Malaysian palm oil futures and other vegetable oil markets on Thursday. FUNDAMENTALS * Malaysian palm oil futures ended lower on Wednesday, as investors stayed cautious on rising stocks and renewed fears about a slowing global economy on Spain's financing woes. * Tumble on Europe debt jitters, end-quarter balancing * Oil falls as Europe's crisis reinforces growth worries MARKET NEWS * Stocks slip on Europe fears, Spain yields jump * Oil, metals dive on Europe woes; soy near 3-mth low RELATED NEWS > FOB Gulf Grain-Soy offers hold on moderate demand, lower futures - Reuters |
| Wall Street falls as euro-zone protests escalate Posted: 26 Sep 2012 05:21 PM PDT NEW YORK: Stocks fell on Wednesday as protests in Spain and Greece over euro zone austerity measures raised fresh concerns over Europe's ability to get its debt crisis under control. Investors sold risk-sensitive sectors such as energy and tech, while they poured money into more defensive areas like utilities and consumer staples. The S&P technology sector declined 0.8 percent and the energy sector fell 0.9 percent, while S&P utilities <.GSPU> ended up 0.2 percent. Violent protests in Madrid against expected austerity measures and growing talk of secession in the wealthy Catalonia region increased pressure on Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as he moves closer to asking euro zone policymakers for rescue money. Meanwhile, Greece faced its biggest anti-austerity protest in more than a year as international lenders admitted to difficulty in working out how to solve Athens' debt crisis. "When it gets down to it, there is real disagreement between the people in the streets and the policy maker," in Europe, said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York. "I think it's certainly causing some concerns" for investors, he said, adding, "The market's probably looking for an excuse to have a correction." The S&P 500 is up 5.2 percent so far for the third quarter and 1.9 percent for September, historically a weak month for equities. Gains were largely tied to actions taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank to prop up their economies. For the day, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 44.04 points, or 0.33 percent, at 13,413.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 8.27 points, or 0.57 percent, at 1,433.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 24.03 points, or 0.77 percent, at 3,093.70. Volume was roughly 6.51 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the Amex, compared with the year-to-date average daily closing volume of 6.53 billion, even though many participants were out for the observance of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by about 17 to 12, and on the Nasdaq by about 5 to 3. Longer term, the outlook for stocks appeared more positive. While the S&P 500 wasn't expected to move much from its current level through the end of the year, according to a Reuters poll of analysts, it should advance in the first half of 2013, largely on central bank actions. Also weighing on tech shares Wednesday, Jabil Circuit tumbled 9.9 percent to $18.90 after the technology company reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed expectations and forecast weak first-quarter results. Other recent earnings warnings from companies including FedEx Corp and Caterpillar Inc have sparked concerns about global growth. On the plus side, American Greetings Corp jumped 17.3 percent to $16.82 after the company said it received an offer to go private from a group led by its chief executive, valuing the greeting card company at about $580 million. Economic data showed prices of new U.S. single-family home sales vaulted to their highest level in more than five years in August, the latest evidence the housing market was making progress. - Reuters |
| Samsung to shop for software to compete with Apple, Google and Amazon.com Posted: 26 Sep 2012 05:15 PM PDT SEOUL: Samsung Electronics, which has vaulted the value chain on the strength of its hardware, will go out and buy mobile content providers, a senior executive told Reuters, to compete with Apple, Google and Amazon.com in a global digital music market worth nearly US$9 billion. The South Korean electronics giant has muscled its way to global leadership in TVs, smartphones, chips and display screens - packing internally sourced state-of-the-art components into consumer gadgets - but software remains a weak link. "The message we're getting from the top is to raise software capability, and buy rather than build, if needed," Kang Tae-jin, senior vice president of Samsung's Media Solution Center, said in an interview. "Our focus on software is primarily aimed at driving hardware sales, rather than making money. We have a full range of handsets in so many countries, and, to better market our products, we thought it's better to start our own software business." Apple's potential launch of an online streaming music service is prompting rivals to counter the iPod maker, which pioneered and still leads the digital music market. Success in today's mobile market means integrating products to seamlessly connect hardware and software. In May, Samsung bought online music service mSpot and has built its own Music Hub service to compete against Android's Music Player, Apple's iTunes and Amazon's Cloud Player. Kang says Samsung is ready to do more deals. PANDORA'S BOX? The boardroom push, and Samsung's aim to grow Music Hub to among the world's top-four digital music services, has fuelled speculation that online streaming services such as Pandora Media and privately-held Spotify could become takeover fodder. Big content firms and broadcasters are jostling in a digital music market set to grow nearly a fifth this year, led mainly by streaming services. Kang declined to comment on potential targets. "We want to grow the Music Hub to rank in the world's top four services within three years in both revenue and subscriber numbers. And to shorten the time, we're ready to do more acquisitions, if needed," he said. "Mobile business is what Samsung is doing really well, and as a result we have deep pockets. We are very serious about content business, as we showed with the acquisition of mSpot." NOT CONTENT Samsung has yet to prove itself in content, and remains some way behind Apple, which revolutionized the smartphone market in 2007 with an iPhone boasting seamless integration of software and hardware. Samsung's proprietary bada mobile platform has little traction in the smartphone market, and its ChatOn messenger service has yet to grip users. The Koreans - who have tended to stick with alliances with content partners rather than go in-house - may be late to a crowded music market, but Samsung sees scope in leveraging its scale in hardware and some stand-out features of Music Hub. "One of the great advantages we have over our rivals is that Music Hub is pre-installed in our flagship product and will be available later in a bunch of other Samsung devices," said Kang, who developed the Hangul 2000 software, a Korean equivalent of Microsoft's Word processor, and was poached from mobile operator KT Corp <030200.KS> in 2010. Music Hub, available on Samsung's Galaxy S III smartphones in the United States and several European markets, combines all the key available music service options on a single platform - offering paid digital downloads like iTunes, a personalised radio service like Pandora, music upload to cloud like iTunes Match and Cloud Player. Users can access a catalogue of over 19 million songs - including the Korean hit 'Gangnam Style' that has taken the pop world by storm and topped iTune's download charts - and stream seamlessly to mobile devices. Apple says its iTunes Store has more than 28 million songs. "Amazon, Google and Apple should really take note of Music Hub's radio service," Billboard said recently. "Whether or not the service is good, great or equal to something like Pandora really isn't the point. What's important is that Samsung has put the most mainstream of music products (radio) with less mainstream music products (downloads, cloud storage)," it said. MUSICAL FRIDGE The toughest challenge is to turn around consumer perception that Samsung is only good at hardware, and to add killer apps to bind consumers to their Samsung devices. "Pre-installing Music Hub on the Galaxy is powerful, but not enough," said Kang, adding there be more aggressive promotions, including month-long free trials and give-away albums. That will put the squeeze more firmly on Pandora, Spotify and other online music firms that lose money as they depend on paid subscriptions and advertising but have no hardware to sell. "We have an internal target to break even in software. But, in general, selling content won't make much of a contribution to the bottom line. We see other new business opportunities associated with content," Kang said. Samsung plans to have Music Hub working on a range of consumer devices - from smartphones to Internet-enabled TVs and fridges - and is likely to ultimately want to monetize it by hooking up with an ad platform. "We're preparing new services for launch early next year. With these offerings, people will start to think Samsung is good in software, too," said Kang, declining to elaborate on those launches. - Reuters |
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