Friday, April 1, 2011

#Stocks to watch:* CIMB, Time dotCom, Glomac, MBSB

KUALA LUMPUR: After a firmer end to the first quarter, stocks on Bursa Malaysia could be rangebound on Friday, April 1 as investors assess the outlook for the second quarter where most of the issues of the Mid-east crisis and high oil prices are still lingering.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 30.88 points, or 0.25 percent, to 12,319.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 dipped 2.43 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1,325.83. The Nasdaq Composite edged up 4.28 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,781.07.

Reuters reported U.S. stocks ended a solid quarter with the barest of moves on Thursday, March 31, as investors looked ahead to Friday's U.S. jobs report to provide a catalyst to push indexes to new highs for the year.

After gaining 5.4 percent in the first quarter, the benchmark S&P 500 hovered near 1,330, a level the index has been unable to break despite several attempts in the past month. A strong payrolls number may tip it over and technical momentum could kick in, lifting stocks further.

Among the stocks to watch on Bursa Malaysia are CIMB Banking Group, Time dotCom, GLOMAC BHD [] and MALAYSIA BUILDING SOCIETY BHD [] (MBSB).

CIMB Bank and CIMB Islamic Bank will maintain their base lending rate and base financing rate at 6.3%. The two banks backtracked on their decisions in less than 24 hours after having announced a rise of five basis points on lending rates on Wednesday.

TIME DOTCOM BHD [] is teaming up with Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd (MBNS) to provide IPTV and broadband services across the Klang Valley and Penang., TT dotCom Sdn Bhd (TTdC) had signed a collaboration agreement with MBNS, which takes effect from Dec 20, 2010 and continue for 10 years from April 1.

The collaboration agreement supersedes and replaces the principal terms of collaboration signed by the parties on Dec 20, 2010.

Glomac's net profit for the third quarter ended Jan 31, 2011 rose 55.2% to RM16.52 million from RM10.65 million a year earlier, mainly due to stronger contribution from higher margin projects such as Glomac Tower, Glomac Damansara and Glomac Cyberjaya.

Revenue for the quarter surged 124% to RM176.53 million from RM78.76 million in 2010. Earnings per share were 5.65 sen, while net assets per share was RM2.01. Glomac proposed an interim dividend of 4.5 sen per share.

For the nine months ended Jan 31, Glomac's net profit rose to RM47.96 million from RM28.29 million a year ago, on the back of revenue RM443.74 million.

There has been no indication from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) that it will pare down its stake in MBSB, said its CEO Datuk Ahmad Zaini Othman. MBSB targets to grow its personal loans to account for 50% of its overall loan portfolio from about 30% presently and this should translate to an additional RM5 billion in fresh disbursements.

No comments:

Post a Comment