KUALA LUMPUR: Stocks are expected to rise on Thursday, May 13, as sentiment would be underpinned by the strong close on Wall Street where US stocks capped their best three-day run in 10 months on Wednesday.
According to Reuters, Spain unveiled an austerity plan that reassured investors Europe was addressing its fiscal ills. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.38% to 10,896.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 1.37% to 1,171.67. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2.09% to 2,425.02.
Stocks to watch on Bursa Malaysia are Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp), Dialog Group Bhd, Mudajaya Corp Bhd and Limahsoon Bhd. Also on the watch list will be WCT Bhd and Putrajaya Perdana Bhd.
Bank Negara Malaysia will release the economic growth data on Thursday and also its monetary policy. Expectations are that the economy grew more than 8% in 1Q while economists forecast BNM may raise the overnight policy rate by another 25 basis points.
The Edge FinancialDaily, quoting sources, reports the Cabinet has agreed in principle to entrust the task of redeveloping the Sungai Besi Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) base to a consortium of companies that include 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Berjaya Corporation Bhd has proposed to acquire a 70% stake in Ascot Sport for RM525 million cash from its major shareholder Tan Sri Vincent Tan, who is also chairman and CEO of BCorp.
AmResearch has affirmed its trading buy on BCorp and raised its fair value from RM1.80 per share to Rm2.15 per share based on a 30% discount to its revised fully diluted NAV of RM3.08 per share. Ascot has been given the exclusive approval to operate sports betting.
BCorp has also been included into MSCI Malaysia Index while two property stocks, IGB Corp Bhd and KLCC Property Holdings Bhd (KLCCP), have been removed from the index -- a benchmark for foreign fund managers in terms of portfolio allocation.
Dialog Group Bhd posted a net profit of RM31.84 million in the third quarter ended March 31, 2010, up 53% from RM20.8 million a year ago, underpinned by its engineering and construction (E&C) and plant maintenance jobs.
Mudajaya Group Bhd is upbeat about its earnings outlook after its net profit surged 260% to RM50.6 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010, from RM14.04 million a year ago due to increased level of activities.
Revenue rose 91% to RM239.35 million from RM125.38 million, while earnings per share increased to 12.35 sen from 3.77 sen.
Putrajaya Perdana Bhd's net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010 rose 46% to RM10.89 million from RM7.43 million a year ago, despite its revenue falling by nearly half to RM128.99 million from RM251.69 million.
WCT Bhd is targeting to secure RM2 billion worth of projects this year to add to its existing order book of RM3.2 billion, said its deputy managing director Goh Chin Liong.
Limahsoon is working out a regularization plan with its white knight, the NSK group of companies. The laminated board manufacturer company said the identification of NSK Group is expected to see a significant change in the business direction of the company.
Limahsoon became a Practice Note 17 (PN17) company last December. It had defaulted in payments of outstanding facilities of RM91.4 million to Bank Pertanian Malaysia Bhd (Agrobank) and was also unable to provide a solvency declaration to Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd.
Salcon aborted its plans to construct a water treatment plant in Rokan Hilir in Riau after conducting detailed feasibility studies on the project.
Salcon had in 2007 proposed the construction and completion of intake works, water treatment plant, balancing reservoir and raw and treated water trunk at the province of Riau. The project was supposed to be undertaken on a build, operate and transfer basis.
Separately, Salcon had also proposed a water supply scheme for Cikarang Barat and Cibitung cities located in Kabupaten Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia.