March 19, 2013 -- Updated March 05, 2013 04:15 HKT
Philippines
Most local equities closed lower
for a second session Monday, but gaming and banking stocks tempered the losses
amid a sluggish regional market and a string of negative local developments.
The main-share Philippine Stock
Exchange index dipped 4.71 points or 0.07 percent to close at 6,637.56. This,
however, marked a recovery from a loss of 1.1 percent in morning trade.
The main index was weighed down
most by SM Development Corp. (-6.44 percent), Energy Development Corp. (-5.51
percent) and First Gen (-4.96 percent).
SMDC is set to be stricken off
the main-share PSEi by March 11 while Lopez index stocks EDC and
FGEN were hit by a double whammy
on Friday—the suspension of the Bacman geothermal operations due to a turbine
rupture and a landslide at its geothermal plant in Leyte that has so far killed
six people while eight workers remained missing.
A weak sentiment across the
region arising from fresh property restrictions in China also tempted
profit-takers. Investors sold down Ayala, SM Investments, Ayala Land, SM Prime,
URC and Metro Pacific Investments in heavy volume.
Malaysia
Genting Bhd is planning to build
an integrated resort in Las Vegas, with 3,500 hotel rooms and 175,000 sq ft of
total gaming space.
The group said on Monday it was
buying 87 acres of freehold land in Las Vegas for US$350mil (RM1.08bil) from
Boyd Gaming Corporation.
The integrated resort to be known
as “Resorts World Las Vegas” would also have hotel rooms, gaming space across
several floors, convention centres and several luxury dining and retail
amenities.
“Genting Bhd intends to undertake
the development, either singly or jointly with other parties, and will announce
the details of the development plans in due course,” it said.
It said the property was at the
north end of South Las Vegas Boulevard – or the Las Vegas Strip — and consists
of six parcels of freehold land measuring 87 acres.
“The land has approximately 1,523
feet of frontage on the Las Vegas Strip and is zoned as H-1, which allows for
the development of gaming enterprises, compatible commercial and mixed
commercial / residential uses.
“It also lies entirely within the
gaming enterprise district, which allows for application for a non-restricted
gaming license and permitted gaming throughout the site,” Genting said.
Indonesia
Indofood Sukses Makmur, part of
the Salim Group, has upped its stake in China Minzhong Food Corporation,
China’s leading integrated vegetable processor, via a S$105 million ($85
million) share purchase.
“The share purchase was done
through the Singapore Exchange,” said Werianty Setiawan, a director at
Indofood, in a press statement on Friday.
CMFC is listed on the Singapore
Exchange.
The statement said that on
Thursday, Indofood purchased a 14.38 percent stake of new CMFC shares at S$1.12
each.
The buy increased Indofood’s
ownership in CMFC to 29.33 percent, from 14.95 percent, previously.
Indofood initially put $89
million of equity participation into CMFC on Feb. 17. It bought 98 million
shares at a price of S$0.915 per share.
CMFC runs six processing
facilities in China. Two are located in Fujian province, and Yunnan, Sichuan
and Inner Mongolia provinces, as well as Shanghai, each host one. The company
produces over 100 types of processed vegetables including freeze-dried, brined
products and fresh-packed.
The CMFC stake is part of a
broader push by the Salim Group to grow its international presence.
It recently announced a deal to
acquire a Brazilian sugar company, reflecting an effort by the group to tap the
Latin American market.
The purchase will enable the
company controlled by the Salim family to expand its presence in the ethanol
and sugar industries as well as strengthen the group’s plantation business
model, it said.
In a filing to the Singapore
Exchange in January, Indofood’s plantation unit and cooking oil producer,
Indofood Agri Resources (IndoAgri), announced that it had agreed to buy a 50
percent holding in Companhia Mineira de Acucar e Alcool Participacoes (CMAA), a
producer of sugar and ethanol in Brazil, for $71.7 million.
IndoAgri said the acquisition
would be funded from internal sources.
Mark Wakeford, IndoAgri’s chief
executive, said the proposed acquisition was expected to close in the second
quarter
of 2013.
IndoAgri established a wholly
owned subsidiary in Brazil, called IndoAgri Brazil Participacoes, to enter into
the joint venture with JF Citrus Agropecuaria, which currently controls CMAA.
In Indonesia, IndoAgri has two
sugar mills and refineries located in Java and Sumatra.
Indofood Sukses Makmur’s share
price was up 1.4 percent to Rp 7,400 on Friday’s closing at the Indonesia Stock
Exchange.
Thailand
TUF is building a new frozen
shrimp factory in Samut Sakhon to replace the one damaged by fire in February
last year, with capacity doubling to 200 tonnes a day. The new factory is
scheduled to start production in the second quarter of next year.
The company has 240 rai of land
available near the existing site in Mahachai town for expansion. The new salmon
and squid plant will be built where the shrimp factory was formerly located,
with a daily capacity of 70 tonnes.
A cold storage facility with a
capacity of 30,000 tonnes will be built, with 20,000 tonnes operational this
year and another 10,000 tonnes in 2014, he added.
“Our business plan emphasises
investments for growth,” said Mr Thiraphong, adding mergers and acquisitions
will also play a part.
TUF is expanding to Vietnam,
Myanmar and Laos this year.
The US is the largest market for
TUF, at 36% of exports, followed by 30% to the EU, while the domestic and
Japanese markets sit at 10% and 9%, respectively.
Tuna generates 49% of sales,
followed by shrimp (23%), value-added products (11%), pet food (7%), sardines
and mackerel (6%) and salmon (4%).
Last year TUF reported revenue of
$3.44 billion, up 6% in dollar terms from 2011. In baht, turnover grew 8%,
surpassing 100 billion baht for the first time at 106.69 billion, while net
profit dropped 8% to 4.69 billion.
In the fourth quarter, net profit
decreased by 60% year-on-year to 612 million baht while quarterly sales rose
1.1% to 26.3 billion baht.
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Singapore
Singapore’s Purchasing Managers’
Index (PMI) dipped 0.8 points month-on-month to 49.4 in February.
A PMI reading below 50 indicates
a contraction in the manufacturing economy.
However, economists said there is
no need to be overly concerned over the month-on-month drop.
After rushing to meet production
orders in January, Singapore’s manufacturers took a breather over the Lunar New
Year break in February.
Lower orders, production and
employment resulted in the seasonal dip in PMI.
Song Seng Wun, regional economist
at CIMB Research, said: “This is consistent with other economies that had a
break for Chinese New Year. We saw a similar moderation in manufacturing
activities in Taiwan, we saw that in China as well.
“But we will be looking at it on
a sort of aggregate basis – January, February numbers collectively. If you look
at that on aggregate, it looks like overall, manufacturing activities in
Singapore and around the region (are) more or less showing signs of stability.”
After adjusting the data for
Lunar New Year, CIMB Research said the global manufacturing picture is one of a
modest recovery.
Regional PMIs for South Korea,
Japan, Indonesia, India and Australia rose in February, in line with the
readings in the US, Germany and France.
Yesterday in Asia
Chinese shares suffered the
biggest sell-off with property developers hit by measures to cool the housing
market, but Tokyo enjoyed modest gains as the man tapped to become Japan’s top
central banker vowed to tackle deflation.
Shanghai lost 3.65
percent, or 86.10 points, to end at 2,273.40, Sydney slipped 1.49 percent, or
75.6 points, to 5,010.5, and Seoul was off 0.66 percent, or 13.34 points, at
2,013.15. Hong Kong lost 1.50 percent, shedding 342.41 points to 22,537.81.
Tokyo put on 0.40 percent,
or 45.91 points, to close at 11,652.29.
Taipei fell 1.22 percent,
or 97.29 points, to 7,867.34.
Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing Co. shed 2.86 percent at Tw$102.0 while Hon Hai Precision was
1.35 percent lower at Tw$80.5.
Manila ended flat, dipping
4.71 points to 6,637.56.
Energy Development slipped 5.51
percent to 6.35 pesos while Ayala Corp. dropped 2.54 percent to 556 pesos.
Wellington fell 1.49
percent, or 64.39 points, to 4,253.60.
Telecom was off 1.9 percent at
NZ$2.33 and Chorus slipped 1.38 percent to NZ$2.86.
Singapore fell 0.90
percent, or 29.55 points, to 3,239.95.
United Overseas Bank gained 0.68
percent to Sg$19.28 while real estate giant Capitaland dropped 3.63 percent to
Sg$3.72.
Jakarta lost 1.04 percent,
or 50.15 points, to 4,761.46.
Miner Aneka Tambang lost 0.77
percent to 1,290 rupiah, Indo-Rama Synthetics dropped 2.88 percent to 1,350
rupiah, while Hero Supermarket gained 2.54 percent to 5,050 rupiah.
Bangkok was flat, edging up
1.12 points to 1,540.72.
Telecoms company Advanced Info
Service jumped 1.93 percent to 211 baht, while Bangkok Life Assurance rose 3.73
percent to 69.50 baht.
Kuala Lumpur was flat,
slipping 1.46 points to 1,635.98.
YTL Power International shed 1.3
percent to 1.49 ringgit, while Felda Global Ventures Holdings slipped 0.9
percent to 4.44. UEM Land Holdings gained 4.2 percent to 2.50 ringgit.
Mumbai slid 0.21 percent,
or 40.56 points, to 18,877.96.
State-run hydropower firm
National Hydroelectric Power Corp. plunged 18.84 percent to 19.6 rupees while
private oil explorer Essar Oil fell 11.71 percent to 72.75 rupees.
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