The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- Prestariang jumps to record high of RM1.77
- European authorities raid Shell, BP and Statoil offices to probe suspected manipulation of oil prices
- Malaysia's blue chips eye critical 1,800 level
| Prestariang jumps to record high of RM1.77 Posted: 14 May 2013 06:46 PM PDT Published: Wednesday May 15, 2013 MYT 9:46:00 AMKUALA LUMPUR: Shares of Prestariang surged to an all-time high of RM1.77 early Wednesday as CIMB Equities Research viewed there was more upside for the ICT and education-based company. At 9.30am, it was up 23 sen to RM1.77. There were 4.73 million shares done. The FBM KLCI inched up 0.51 of a point to 1,788.94. Turnover was 626.04 million shares valued at RM210.74mil. There were 362 gainers, 96 losers and 190 counters unchanged. CIMB Research initiated coverage of Prestariang, Malaysia's largest ICT training and software licence service provider, with an Outperform call. Its target price is RM2.79. It said 60% of Prestariang's revenue was recurring and its projected 16% three-year earnings per share (EPS) compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) should be supported by existing services and its new ICT university, UniMy. "We initiate coverage with an Outperform call. Our target price is based on 12.5 times CY14 price-to-earnings (P/E), which is based on the domestic education sector's P/E," it said.
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| Posted: 14 May 2013 06:26 PM PDT LONDON/OSLO: European authorities have raided offices of oil majors Shell, BP and Statoil in an investigation of suspected manipulation of oil prices, one of the biggest cross-border actions since the Libor rigging scandal. Authorities have sharpened scrutiny of financial benchmarks around the world since slapping large fines on some of the world's biggest banks for rigging interest rate benchmarks. On Tuesday, the European Commission said it was investigating major oil companies over suspected anti-competitive agreements related to submission of prices to leading oil pricing agency Platts, a unit of McGraw Hill Group. "Officials carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of several companies active in and providing services to the crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels sectors," the Commission said. The inspections took place in two EU member states and one non-EU country, it said. "The Commission has concerns that the companies may have colluded in reporting distorted prices to a price reporting agency to manipulate the published prices for a number of oil and biofuel products," it said. The Commission also said companies may have prevented others from participating in the price assessment process, with a view to distorting published prices. Statoil said the suspected violations were related to the Platts price assessment process and may have been ongoing since 2002. The probe will shine a light on the methodology designed by Platts for daily assessments on the physical oil markets, used to close deals worth billions of dollars. The so-called Platts window, or market-on-close (MOC) system, is a daily half-hour period in which it determines cash prices through a series of bids, offers and trades. Critics say the system is only a snapshot of the market, because it excludes trade outside the window - one reason that it can be vulnerable to manipulation. "I remember looking at these sorts of issues 10 years ago, and nothing has changed, it's sort of an accident waiting to happen," said Craig Pirrong, Professor of Finance at the University of Houston, noting that after the Libor scandal, price assessment agencies were under "incredible scrutiny." "Regulators and law enforcement officials are quite upset with this sort of alleged conduct and they have proven that they are willing to go after companies that misreport for very large sums of money," Pirrong said. "Potentially the exposure is quite large." PRICE DISTORTIONS The Commission said that even small distortions of assessed prices may have a huge impact on the prices of crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels purchases and sales, potentially harming final consumers. It added the fact inspections had been carried out did not mean the companies were guilty of anti-competitive behaviour. The Commission did not make clear whether it was investigating a specific incident. These investigations typically take years to draw final conclusions. Platts, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Statoil said they were cooperating with the probe. French major Total said there had been no inspections at its offices. The Commission did not list the companies being investigated, and it was not clear whether other companies were included. Statoil said authorities had inspected its office in Stavanger on the request of the European Commission on suspicions of anti-competitive behaviour. The Norwegian state, the controlling shareholder of Statoil, said the probe was a matter for the company's management to handle and declined further comment. Platts said the European Commission had "undertaken a review at its premises in London this morning in relation to the Platts price assessment process". The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is running a wider review of benchmarks, and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is looking into the setting of gold and silver prices in London. IOSCO said it was not involved in the oil enquiry. The CFTC declined to comment, and the Federal Trade Commission had no immediate comment. Thomson Reuters, parent of Reuters news, competes with Platts in providing news and information to the oil market. - Reuters
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| Malaysia's blue chips eye critical 1,800 level Posted: 14 May 2013 06:14 PM PDT Published: Wednesday May 15, 2013 MYT 9:14:00 AMKUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's blue chips rose at the start of trade on Wednesday, as investor confidence was underpinned by the overnight rally on Wall Street and fresh corporate news. At 9.01am, the FBM KLCI was up 4.26 points to 1,792.69. Turnover was 125.56 million shares valued at RM34.35mil. There were 195 gainers, 29 losers and 110 counters unchanged. JF Apex Research said after the KLCI closed at a fresh record high on Tuesday 1,788.43, "the bullish US market could lead the KLCI to fresh highs. We expect the KLCI to remain positive and could re-test the resistance of 1,800". Petronas Gas was the top gainer, up 50 sen to RM21.50 while MPHB added 13 sen to RM4.09 and UMW 10 to RM14.40. Among consumer stocks, BAT added 36 sen to RM65.14 and Carlsberg gained 10 sen to RM15.58. As for plantations, PPB Group rose 11 sen to RM13.70 while IOI Corp extended its gains as trading interest was galvanised by its demerger exercise.
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