Bernanke is scheduled to address a conference of central bankers in
Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and market participants are waiting to see whether he
will announce new measures to boost growth. The Fed chairman is expected to
feed expectations for a third round of quantitative easing, though he could
keep markets guessing about the timing.
Expectations for more stimulus
have risen along with signs of slowing global growth. Japan cut its assessment
of its economic expansion, citing a deceleration in U.S. and Chinese demand for
its exports.
U.S. consumer confidence
unexpectedly weakened in August to its lowest in nine months as Americans
turned more pessimistic about the short-term outlook, according to the
Conference Board.
But in another report, the
S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas showed U.S. home
prices rose for a fifth consecutive month.
Singapore
Singapore’s economy is set to weaken
this year on the back of weaker global demand and related international
financial and trade strains emanating from the euro zone debt crisis, the
International Monetary Fund said on Monday.
“Under the benign global baseline
scenario, growth is forecast to soften this year to just below 3 percent, with
a moderate increase in 2013,” the IMF said in its annual review of Singapore’s
economy. The IMF sees growth in Singapore rising to about 3.5 per cent next
year.
The IMF said Singapore had ample
policy room and other protective measures to deal with the effects of a slowing
economy. The current account surplus is likely to narrow slightly to about 21
per cent of gross domestic product, the fund said.
It said inflation, which is
currently at around 4.5 pe rcent, would likely remain under pressure and should
be allowed to rise temporarily to accommodate price changes from tighter labor
markets. Other sources of inflation, including from transport costs, credit
growth and asset prices, should be “forcefully tackled,” the IMF added.
Thailand
PTT, Thailand’s largest company,
has offered S$1.2 billion to gain full control of Singapore-listed Sakari
Resources as it expands into coal to meet rising regional demand for the fuel,
giving the target the biggest gain in almost six years.
State-controlled PTT, through its
unit PTT Asia Pacific Mining, already owns nearly 51 per cent of Sakari, which
listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) in 2006.
Sakari has coal mines in the Indonesian
provinces of East and South Kalimantan. It also has a 15.1-per-cent stake in
Xanadu Mines, an Australian listed company with rights to mining concessions in
Mongolia.
PTT’s offer price of S$1.90 in
cash for the shares it does not own represents a 27.5-per-cent premium to
Sakari’s last traded price on Friday.
Sakari’s stock soared as much as
27.9 per cent to S$1.905 yesterday, before closing at S$1.895, up 40.5 cents or
27.2 per cent. It was the most actively-traded counter on the SGX, with nearly
107.7 million shares changing hands.
PTT Chief Financial Officer
Surong Bulakul said yesterday: “We want coal to be one of our core businesses
in the future.”
PTT does not intend to maintain
Sakari’s listing status if it manages to gain at least 90 per cent of the firm.
The bid values Sakari at about
S$2.2 billion, or about 8.8 times earnings before interest and tax, compared
with an average of 17 times for 10 comparable deals collated by Bloomberg.
OCBC Investment Research analyst
Carey Wong said: “Sakari’s valuations are not demanding and PTT seems to want
to diversify its resource base and income stream.”
DMG analyst Joshua Low
recommended that stakeholders accept the deal, noting that PTT’s valuation
appeared fair although not at a premium to peers.
Malaysia
KLCI index lost 0.57 points or
0.03% on Tuesday. The Finance Index fell 0.46% to 14777.99 points, the
Properties Index dropped 0.41% to 1059.11 points and the Plantation Index down
0.01% to 8640.14 points. The market traded within a range of 3.42 points
between an intra-day high of 1649.00 and a low of 1645.58 during the session.
Actively traded stocks include
INGENS-WA, INGENS, ASUPREM, ASAAG, TAKASO, NICORP, NEXTNAT, DBE, DPS and
TAKASO-WB. Trading volume decreased to 1210.79 mil shares worth RM1106.56 mil
as compared to Monday’s 1238.67 mil shares worth RM1067.47 mil.
Leading Movers were GENTING (+7
sen to RM9.14), BAT (+130 sen to RM63.90), PETCHEM (+3 sen to RM6.53), PETGAS
(+10 sen to RM19.52) and AXIATA (+1 sen to RM5.99). Lagging Movers were CIMB
(-5 sen to RM7.83), TENAGA (-5 sen to RM6.82), MAYBANK (-3 sen to RM9.15), UMW
(-16 sen to RM10.10) and HLBANK (-16 sen to RM13.50). Market breadth was
negative with 276 gainers as compared to 460 losers.
Philippines
Flag carrier Philippine Airlines
(PAL) is poised to soar to greater heights starting next year as it takes
delivery of new planes—more than doubling the size of its current fleet.Even
without the new planes, PAL president Ramon S. Ang said the company might post
a modest profit for its current fiscal year that ends next March. “The company
is already registering a profit,” Ang said at a press conference on Tuesday. He
said the airline’s better performance was a result of “discipline,” leading to
lower maintenance costs.
PAL’s parent firm PAL Holdings
posted a P489.2-million profit in the April to June period of 2012, the first
quarter of the company’s fiscal year. This was an improvement from the
P475.1-million loss posted the year before. PAL also implemented a cost-cutting
program last October that involved the outsourcing of 2,600 jobs to third-party
providers. Ang declined to comment on whether the outsourcing program, which is
still being questioned in court, contributed to the company’s return to
profitability.
At the press conference, the
airline disclosed details for its expansion program. The company signed a deal
with European plane manufacturer Airbus for as many as 54 new planes in the
first phase of a multiyear acquisition spree. The deal is worth $7
billion, based on published list prices for the planes. Ang, who is also
president of San Miguel Corp., said the company was still in negotiations to
buy 46 more aircraft to bring its total plane purchases to 100.
Indonesia
The Indonesian government has
allocated $20 billion for infrastructure development next year to boost
national economic growth, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Tuesday.
“The fund will be focused on the
energy and transportation sectors,” Yudhoyono said in his speech at the opening
of the Asia-Pacific Minister and Governor Conference on Sustainable and
Inclusive Infrastructure Development in Jakarta.
Regarding the transportation
sector, the government said they hope to extend the length of current national
roads by 4,278 kilometers. The government also plans to build over 500
kilometers of new roads, 380 kilometers of railways, as well as some 15
additional airports.
Yudhoyono said he considers
infrastructure development as both “important and strategic” because it has the
potential to create a multiplier effect that could strengthen national economic
growth by improving people’s mobility, connectivity and economic activities.
“Infrastructure development at
the end will open new job fields and facilitate industrial sector growth and
small and medium enterprises that are the backbone of Indonesian economic
resilience.”
Addressing the difficulty of
bolstering infrastructure in an archipelago, Yudhoyono said there will be two
centers of development: Building an international port in Kuala Tanjung,
Sumatra for Western Indonesia, and an international port in Bitung, Sulawesi
for Eastern Indonesia. Both locations are majors shipping hubs.
“I’m sure this strategy could . .
. support the development of economic centers outside Java island,” Yudhoyono
said.
Yesterday in Asia
Tokyo fell 0.57 percent,
or 52.10 points, to 9,033.29, weighed down by a strong yen and a bleak
government report, which cut its view on the economy for the first time in 10
months amid slow exports and consumer spending.
Seoul edged down 0.08
percent, or 1.54 points, to 1,916.33, with shares in Samsung Electronics
rebounding 1.27 percent following a plunge on Monday after a US court fined the
firm $1.05 billion for breaching Apple’s patents.
Sydney gained 0.36 percent,
or 15.7 points, to 4,359.4, while Hong Kong was flat, edging up 0.07 percent,
or 13.13 points, to 19,811.80.
Taipei fell 1.42 percent,
or 106.28 points, to 7,361.94.
Hon Hai Precision shed 3.77
percent to Tw$84.2 while Acer was 1.32 percent lower at Tw$26.1.
Wellington rose 0.16
percent, or 5.82 points, to 3,629.05.
Telecom Corp. rose 0.62 percent
to NZ$2.43.
Manila rose 0.63 percent,
or 32.27 points, to 5,175.62.
Alliance Global Group Inc. rose
4.09 percent to 11.72 pesos and Metropolitan Bank and Trust added 0.81 percent
to 93.55 pesos.
Singapore closed down
0.15 percent, or 4.42 points, to 3,040.07.
Singapore Airlines gained 0.56
percent to Sg$10.80 and Sembcorp Industries added 0.55 percent to Sg$5.49.
Kuala Lumpur stocks fell
0.06 percent, 1.02 points, to close at 1,647.11.
Hong Leong Bank lost 1.2 percent
to 13.50 ringgit, Tenaga Nasional shed 0.7 percent to 6.82 while AirAsia gained
0.6 percent to 3.55 ringgit.
Jakarta fell 0.07 percent,
or 3.03 points, to 4,142.85.
Coal company Bumi Resources fell
15 percent to 760 rupiah, heavyweight Telkom slid 1.6 percent to 9,300 rupiah
and mining company Aneka Tambang fell 0.78 percent to 1,270 rupiah.
Bangkok fell 0.05 percent,
or 0.57 points, to 1,233.16.
Power giant EGCO rose 1.73
percent to 117.50 baht while Siam City Cement lost 2.31 percent to 338 baht.
Mumbai fell 0.27 percent or
47.10 points to 17,631.71.
Sterlite Industries, the local
arm of global resources group Vedanta, fell 5.13 percent to 104.5 rupees while private
steel producer Jindal Steel slid 4.88 percent to 358.75.
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