HEADLINES

US: Fed's Bullard says better than 50% chance of Fed hike in Sept. There is a better than 50% chance that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in Sept, a top Fed official said. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said that the Fed should get ahead of the curve, as inflation will rise and labor market slack will end. (Reuters)

US: Sells three-month bills at highest rate since March. The US Treasury Department sold USD24bn in three-month bills at an interest rate of 0.03%, which was the highest since March 30 and above 0.015% at the three previous auctions, according to Treasury data. Meanwhile, the Treasury will pay on USD24bn of six-month T-bills an interest rate of 0.135%, matching the level last set at an auction on March 30 and higher than previous auction's 0.1%. (Reuters)

EU: Greece reopens banks, starts repaying some debts. Greece reopened its banks and ordered billions of euros owed to international creditors to be repaid on Monday in the first signs of a return to normal after last week's deal to agree a tough new package of bailout reforms. Customers queued up as bank branches opened for the first time in three weeks on Monday after they were closed to save the system from collapsing under a flood of withdrawals. (Reuters)

EU: Greece repays about EUR4.2bn to ECB. Greece repaid the ECB on Monday, the bank said, clearing a key obligation worth about EUR4.2bn with one of its top lenders, after receiving temporary funding while it negotiates a bigger bailout deal. The EUR3.5bn bond and EUR700m interest payment to the ECB was crucial. Without it, the bank could have been forced to end emergency liquidity assistance to Greek banks if the government defaulted on its bond payment. (Reuters)

UK: Rate hike still seen in 1Q 2016, BoE's Carney brushed off. It will be early 2016 before the BOE raises interest rates from a record low, according to economists from officials suggesting a rate rise might come earlier. The British economy's strong momentum despite extremely low inflation now meant the decision on when to raise rates from 0.5% would come into sharper focus around the end of this year, Governor Mark Carney said. (Reuters)

Markets

Nexgram: Gets delivery order for RM1.2bn 'Angkasa Icon City". Nexgram Holdings has obtained the development order from the Sepang Municipal Council for the RM1.2bn “Angkasa Icon City” project in Cyberjaya. Nexgram’s subsidiaries, Nexgram Land SB and Nextnation Datacity SB had entered into an off-take-cum-sale and purchase agreement with MyAngkasa Bina SB last Dec. (StarBiz)

Mulpha: Completes disposal for RM55m. Mulpha International's (MIB) sub-subsidiary Mulpha Strategic Ltd (MSL) has disposed of its entire 19.9% equity interest in PBD Developments Ltd to Oasis Star Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tian An China Investments Company Limited for AUD19.4m. Payment was received in cash in HK dollar equivalent, amounting to HKD112.1m (RM55.1m). (SunBiz)

KKB Engineering: Secures RM14.6m orders. KKB Engineering (KKB) has received contracts totalling RM14.6m to supply steel structures and liquefied petroleum gas cylinders. KKB said the completion date for the supply of fabricated steel structures to JGC would be until the 3Q of 2016. The completion date for the supply of the gas cylinders is Oct 2015. (StarBiz)

Kinsteel: To realise RM3.7m gain on disposal of Perwaja RCULS. Kinsteel said it has on three separate occasions disposed of 13.3% of the total issued 7-year 7% coupon RCULS of Perwaja Holding to non-related parties for RM9.3m cash. It said the disposal enables the group to realise a gain of RM3.7m based on the net carrying value of Kinsteel’s investment in Perwaja RCULS as at March 31, 2015 of RM31.5m, and raise funds for its working capital. (Financial Daily)

Y&G: Buys Ikramin for RM13.4m. Y&G Corp's wholly-owned indirect subsidiary Rukun Warisan SB is acquiring the entire issued share capital of Ikramin SB, which owns 10.8 acres of land in Sepang, for RM13.4m. (SunBiz)

OSK Holdings: Serves notice on takeover offers. OSK Holdings has served a notice of unconditional mandatory takeover offer to OSK Property Holdings and a conditional voluntary takeover offer to PJ Development Holdings (PJD) to acquire the shares in both property firms that it does not own. (StarBiz)

Sunsuria: Rights issue oversubscribed 14.1%. Sunsuria has announced an oversubscription of its rights issue, which targeted to raise RM433.5m, by 14.1%. The property developer had offered a total of 475.1m new shares in Sunsuria at 80 sen per rights share on the basis of three new shares for every one share held, together with 158.4m free warrants on the basis of one warrant for every three rights shares subscribed. (Financial Daily)

Kejuruteraan Samudra Timur: Exits PN17 status. Kejuruteraan Samudra Timur (KSTB) has exited the PN17 status after Bursa Securities approved its upliftment and considered it a cash company. (Financial Daily)

China Stationery: Has until Sept 7 to submit revamp plan. China Stationery Ltd (CSL), a PN17 company, has been granted an extension until Sept 7 to submit a regularisation plan or waiver application to the regulators. CSL said the local bourse had considered all the facts of the applications and decided to grant the extension. (StarBiz)

MARKET UPDATE

The FBM KLCI might move higher today following the good performance on Wall Street overnight with the main indices closed near record levels, supported by well-received earnings reports. Meanwhile, gold sank to its lowest in more than five years as the dollar maintained its recent rise. At the closing bell, the S&P 500 equity index edged up 0.1% to 2,128.28, having earlier surpassed the record close of 2,130.82 set in May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 13.96 points, or 0.1%, to 18,100.41 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 8.72 points or 0.2% to 5,218.86, closing at all-time high. Across the Atlantic, the mood was also positive with the European stock markets advanced for a ninth straight session on the back of a Greece-fueled rally which reopened its banks after a three-week closure and repay loans to creditors. Performancewise, Germany’s DAX 30 index up 0.5% to 11,735.72, France’s CAC 40 index added 0.4% to 5,142.49 and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index added 0.2% to 6,788.69.

Back home, the FBM KLCI eased by 2.60 points to end at 1,724.13 with higher volume of 1.52bn valued at RM1.55bn. In the region, China’s stock markets also showed signs of stabilisation as the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.9%, trimming its fall from a seven-year high struck last month to 23%. The Hang Seng Index closed flat. Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P ASX 200 and South Korea’s Kospi were each up 0.1%. Japan’s market was closed for public holiday.

Source: PublicInvest Research - 21 Jul 2015