theSun | THURSDAY AUGUST 6 2009 13

1,179.49  0.39
T 10,252.53 T
122.48
business KLCI
STI 2,606.83 T
41.93
Nikkei
TSEC 6,848.24 107.63
T
Hang Seng 20,494.77 301.66
T KOSPI 1,559.47  6.90
T
SCI 3,428.00 T
42.94 S&P/ASX200 4,264.50 T
44.80

KL market summary
AUGUST 5, 2009
INDICES
FBMEMAS
CHANGE
7,969.42 -0.57
Bursa shares end easier
FBM-KLCI 1,179.49 -0.39 SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia ended Dealers said overall sentiment remained
INDUSTRIAL 2,603.34 -9.90 yesterday’s session as earlier gains capped intact as the US stocks edged higher on
CONSUMER PROD 356.07 -0.16 by mild profit-taking led by the heavyweights, Tuesday with the the Dow Jones Industrial
INDUSTRIAL PROD 90.48 -0.34 said dealers. Index and Standard & Poor’s 500 settled at
CONSTRUCTION 226.15 -0.32 The FBM KLCI ended the day 0.39 of a their nine-month high.
TRADING SERVICES 155.36 -0.29 point lower to 1,179.49 after opening 2.01 They said immediate resistance for the
FINANCE 9,614.72 -7.56
PROPERTIES 769.58 -0.35
points higher at 1,181.89 in the morning. FBM KLCI should now stand at 1,187 point-
PLANTATION 5,760.01 +85.12 Dealers said interest was seen largely in level followed by 1,200-point psychological
MINING 344.50 +10.14 plantation stocks on expectations of higher mark. EXCHANGE RATES August 5, 2009
FBMSHA 8,176.55 +3.31 revenue due to the recovery in global demand Among the heavyweights that dragged
FBMACE 4,195.13 -47.18 of crude palm oil (CPO). the market were Sime Darby, which eased
TECHNOLOGY 16.86 -0.09 Foreign currency Bank sell Bank buy Bank buy
The price of the commodity also hit a four sen to RM8.33, Maybank shed three sen
seven-week high, tracking the crude oil price to RM6.75, Bumiputra-Commerce lost 14 sen TT/OD TT OD
TURNOVER VALUE 1 US DOLLAR 3.5240 3.4590 3.4490
which touched a new high for the year to to RM10.50, and Axiata Group fell a sen to
923,999mil RM1.620bil date, at US$74 a barrel on Tuesday. RM2.92. – Bernama 1 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR 3.0140 2.8810 2.8650
1 BRUNEI DOLLAR 2.4670 2.4060 2.3980
1 CANADIAN DOLLAR 3.2980 3.2180 3.2060
1 EURO 5.0940 4.9710 4.9510

Lloyds posts huge loss

1 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR 2.4040 2.2970 2.2810
1 PAPUA N GUINEA KINA 1.4080 1.2080 1.1920
Exciting 1 SINGAPORE DOLLAR 2.4665 2.4060 2.3980
concert 1 STERLING POUND 5.9880 5.8430 5.8230
1 SWISS FRANC 3.3360 3.2540 3.2390
in store 100 ARAB EMIRATES DIRHAM 97.6500 92.4800 92.2800
pg 20

as bad debts surge

100 BANGLADESH TAKA 5.3400 5.2100 5.0100
100 CHINESE RENMINBI N/A N/A N/A
100 DANISH KRONE 70.4800 64.7300 64.5300
100 HONGKONG DOLLAR 46.2800 43.8300 43.6300
100 INDIAN RUPEE 7.7000 7.0700 6.8700
100 INDONESIAN RUPIAH 0.0372 0.0314 0.0264
100 JAPANESE YEN 3.7090 3.6190 3.6090
LONDON: Britain’s state-controlled Lloyds form over the medium 100 NEW TAIWAN DOLLAR N/A N/A N/A
Banking Group said yesterday it plunged into a term, providing value 100 NORWEGIAN KRONE 60.2300 55.3100 55.1100
first-half net loss of £3.124 billion (RM18.5 bil- to our customers and 100 PAKISTAN RUPEE 4.3500 4.0700 3.8700
lion), rocked by soaring bad debts that stemmed
from the takeover of HBOS.
shareholders.”
Group revenues
Good response for 100 PHILIPPINE PESO
100 QATAR RIYAL
7.5400
98.2800
7.0800
93.4800
6.8800
93.2800
The loss, equivalent to €3.7 billion, US$5.3
billion, contrasted with a net profit of £1.954
increased seven percent
to £11.94 billion in the AS1M units 100 SAUDI RIYAL 95.4300 90.7800 90.5800
billion in the first half of 2008, LBG said in a first half. 100 SOUTH AFRICAN RAND 46.4500 42.7300 42.5300
KUALA LUMPUR: The sale of Amanah Saham 1Malaysia
results statement. LBG’s interim results 100 SRI LANKA RUPEE 3.1800 2.9200 2.7200
(AS1Malaysia) shares got off to an overwhelming start
The group, which is 43% owned by the state were calculated on a pro- 100 SWEDISH KRONA 51.3500 46.6600 46.4600
yesterday.
after a massive bailout, also announced a pre- forma basis, as if it had 100 THAI BAHT 11.1200 9.4300 9.0300
As Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) on Jalan Tun
tax loss of £3.957 billion in the six months to already been trading as a Source: Malayan Banking Berhad/Bernama
Razak here opened its doors for business at 8am, more
the end of June, compared with a profit of 2.775 combined group.
than 250 people were already lining up to subscribe to
billion last time around. The company has
Total impairment charges rocketed to £13.4 slashed thousands of jobs the 10 billion shares on offer to Malaysians.
PNB chief executive officer Tan Sri Hamad Kama
Al Rajhi on track to meet
billion, compared with 2.5 billion previously. since its creation earlier
Assets of HBOS, which Lloyds bought in this year when Lloyds TSB Piah Che Othman described the initial response as a break-even target
good beginning.
January in a government-brokered deal, ac- bought rival lender HBOS. KUALA LUMPUR: Al Rajhi Bank (M) Bhd, which started its
“You can see the (crowd) ... See for yourself but
counted for around 80% of the impairments. HBOS had faced poten- operations in Malaysia almost two years ago, is on track
what’s more important is the acceptance. We must
“Our first half loss was driven by the high tial collapse as the credit to meet its target to break even by year-end.
make sure the opportunity is given to everybody,” he
levels of impairment. The core business deliv- crunch hit its ability to raise Its senior vice-president for business intelligence,
told reporters at the launch.
ered a resilient performance, despite the weak funds. It was also saddled Mohd Najid Yahya, said the bank has started to make
This is the first time the PNB, the country’s largest
economy,” chief executive Eric Daniels said in with massive losses as a re- profit from May.
fund manager, handling funds totalling more than
the earnings release. sult of high-risk investments “We saw positive profit. Normally, a retail bank will
RM19.2 billion, has allocated 50% of the shares for
“We are successfully managing the short- which plunged in value amid take three to five years to break even but we only need
bumiputras, Chinese (30%), Indians (15%) and the
term issues and are well positioned to outper- a recession in Britain. – AFP two. Up to May, the numbers were looking good and we
remaining 5% to other minority ethnic groups.
The quota-based share subscription is fixed for 30 are working hard to achieve the target,” he said.
days until Sept 3. But he did not disclose the investment made by Al
After that, the unsold units will be opened to all Rajhi to set up its operations in the country. – Bernama
of the city Tu Guangshao.
“The board is expected to races. – Bernama

briefs be launched next year,” Tu told

Malaysia gets big FDI in solar
sector
KUALA LUMPUR: The government received
between RM12 billion and RM14 billion in foreign
direct investments last year in photovoltaic (PV)
industry alone, further boosting the country’s
green technology promotion.
Malaysia Energy Centre National Project
chief Ahmad Hadri Haris said there were four
companies – First Solar, Q-Cells, Sunpower and
Tokuyama – of which two started operations
this year.
“Two companies have yet to start operations.
With full operations, it could create some 10,000
high-level jobs,” he told reporters after a round-
table talk on green technology and economy
here yesterday.
The solar system, though a fast-growing
industry in Malaysia, is still a small market,
prompting solar energy producers to export
their output to overseas market. – Bernama
Shanghai bourse to see
foreign listings next year
SHANGHAI: The Shanghai Stock Exchange will
launch an international board next year to allow
foreign companies to sell shares in China for the
first time, Chinese media said yesterday.
The larger of the nation’s two bourses is pro-
ceeding with preparations as part of Shanghai’s
long-term plan to become a financial hub by
2020, Shanghai Daily reported, citing vice-mayor
the newspaper in an interview.
Currently, no foreign compa-
nies can list in the domestic stock
market. – AFP
P1 expanding broadband
coverage to secondary cities
KUALA LUMPUR: Packet One Network (Malay-
sia) Sdn Bhd (P1), is aggressively expanding its
broadband coverage area to include secondary
cities in Malaysia, chief executive officer Michael
Lai said.
“P1 aims to fulfil its obligation and contribute
to the 50% household penetration target set by
the government for end-2010,” he said.
As at March, the national broadband penetra-
tion stood at 22%.
P1 is one of the four Worldwide Interoper-
ability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) licence
holders in Malaysia.
The other three are REDtone International
Bhd, YTL e-Solutions Bhd and Asiaspace Dotcom
Sdn Bhd. – Bernama
Sirim expands services to
support ecer growth
KUALA LUMPUR: Sirim Bhd is expanding its
services to cater to the industry needs at the
Eastern Corridor Economic Region (Ecer).
In a statement here yesterday, Sirim said it
would provide the Ecer technical assistance and
human capital development in the areas of metal
fabrication technology, packaging and labelling
and post-harvest machinery in agriculture.
“These services will
also be expanded to new companies which are
expected to be established in Ecer,” it said.
Minister of Science, Technology and Innova-
tion, Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili, said with the
development of Tanjung Agas in Pekan, Pahang
as part of Ecer zone to create activities in pet-
rochemical and fabrication engineering work,
the demand for these services was expected to
grow significantly. – Bernama
Adidas says profits plunge,
holds sales forecast
FRANKFURT: German sports equipment group
Adidas posted yesterday a 93% drop in second-
quarter profit which swamped losses elsewhere
in the country’s retail sector, but confirmed its
full-year outlook.
Adidas said net profit in the three months
from April to June dropped to €9 million (RM45.4
million) from €116 million in the same period
one year earlier.
But the result was better than a forecast loss
of €2.2 million by analysts polled by Dow Jones
Newswires.
Sales in the quarter fell by 2.5% to €2.46 bil-
lion, mainly owing to weak results in Europe, and
Adidas maintained its forecast for a drop in full
year sales of between 1% and 5%.
“I believe we’ve seen the bottom in our finan-
cial performance this year,” a statement quoted
chief executive Herbert Hainer as saying.
He added the figures were in line with a fore-
cast given in May, “if not a little better”. – AFP