The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- Gold at 1½-week high on Ukraine anxiety
- China's steelmakers profitability to rise in Q2 vs Q1
- MyEG slips over delay in CSTM, high valuations
| Gold at 1½-week high on Ukraine anxiety Posted: 27 Apr 2014 07:20 PM PDT SINGAPORE: Gold climbed to its highest in 1½ weeks on Monday, as weaker equities and escalating geopolitical tensions in Ukraine boosted the metal's safe-haven appeal. Spot gold rose 0.06% to US$1,303.60 an ounce by 0024 GMT, after earlier hitting US$1,305.11 – its highest since April 16. In Eastern Ukraine, pro-Russian rebels paraded European monitors they are holding, freeing one but saying they had no plans to release another seven as the US and Europe prepared new sanctions against Moscow. As president Barack Obama called for the US and Europe to join forces to impose stronger measures to restrain Moscow, hedge funds and money managers raised their bullish bets in gold and silver futures and options, their first increase in five weeks. The renewed geopolitical tensions boosted the metal's appeal as a hedge, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday. Meanwhile Deutsche Bank may end up resigning its seat on the London gold fix rather than selling it as US lawsuits alleging price rigging against the five banks that set the benchmark deter potential buyers, industry sources said. Gold premiums in India, the world's second biggest consumer after China, jumped to their highest level in more than 2½ months due to short supplies amid firm demand ahead of the second-biggest gold buying festival. In other news, yhe end game to South Africa's platinum strike is drawing near after the producers said they would take their latest wage offer directly to employees after marathon wage talks to end the 13-week strike collapsed last week. – Reuters |
| China's steelmakers profitability to rise in Q2 vs Q1 Posted: 27 Apr 2014 07:12 PM PDT BEIJING: China's steel sector is expected to see improving profit margins in the second quarter from the first quarter, but shrinking credit and rising environmental costs would limit profit growth, the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) said on Monday. CISA also called on the government to take strong action to punish those responsible for building new capacity and to implement tougher environmental controls, Zhang Changfu, CISA's vice chairman, told a news conference in Beijing. – Reuters |
| MyEG slips over delay in CSTM, high valuations Posted: 27 Apr 2014 07:02 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: Shares of My EG Services fell to a low of RM2.63 on Monday over the delay in the commencement of the Customs service tax monitoring system (CSTM), which was scheduled for early April and also its high valuations. At 9.35am, it was down six sen to RM2.66 -- the lowest since April 17. Turnover was 24,300 shares. The FBM KLCI rose 0.94 of a point to 1,861.92. Turnover was 496.48 million shares valued at RM1.65bil. There were 215 gainers, 190 losers and 271 counters unchanged. CIMB Equities Research pointed out the CSTM was to have started on April 1. However, the law, which dictated that service tax be electronically tracked, had yet to be gazetted. The research house said last week, MyEG participated in CIMB's Asia Pacific Small Mid Cap Corporate Day in Hong Kong. Investor interest in the company was strong, with meetings throughout the day. "There was a lot of interest in the company's new services, such as the CSTM, the voluntary online vehicle transfer service and the foreign workers' annual permit renewal service," it said. CIMB Research said questions focused on the potential size of these markets, its competitors and the potential operating leverage from these services. It said there was only a small negative surprise due to the delay in the the CSTM. "With CSTM, MyEG will also be able to the curb sales of illegal cigarettes, which has been a major problem for the industry over the past few years. In the past, businesses filled forms manually every two months and these traditional ways held the potential for leakage. "Generally, MyEG currently does not have any competitors for its new services. Competition is mainly in the form of the traditional way of doing things, where people are generally slow to adapt to new methods. "However, as MyEG's services are more cost-efficient and convenient, there is a growing trend of consumers and businesses using its new services. "We like the direction of the company's long-term business model focusing on moving up the value chain. The stock's valuation is not cheap but we may review our call on the stock in view of its recent price weakness," CIMB Research said. |
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