Dayang Enterprise: Looking Beyond RM2.00

The last two months saw increased buying of the stock. A share in fallow for almost 2 years,at a low of 70 sen in March 2009. It started to stir after the buying of BORCOS Shipping to strengthen its operations in East Malaysia.

There must be some magic somewhere that started this buying spree. I do not know the reason but the collection has been substantial.

AFTER scaling to an all-time high of RM1.90 on Jan 7, Dayang Enterprise turned range-bound on continuous bargain hunting that alternated with profit-taking activity on consolidation. Apparently, the moving average convergence/divergence histogram remains bullish, indicating investors can accumulate more on weakness. A push above the recent peak may propel prices to the next upper hurdle of RM2.10. Support is expected at RM1.75.

I believe it is a cornered stock in some respect with little float. That is why the bargaining always bring the stock a notch or two up, few cents better every trading day in the last week or so.

Watch this counter.

Stockmarket Respect: Can You All Rise?

World stocks rose yesterday (12 January)hitting 15-month highs on stronger-than-expected Chinese trade data, reviving bets on global economic recovery, while the US dollar fell broadly as risk appetite increased.

US stocks zig-zagged as investors took a breather after a week of gains that pushed the S&P 500 to close at fresh 15-month highs, while nervous investors braced for the start of the quarterly earnings reporting season.

The US dollar fell following Friday’s weak US jobs data and comments from a Federal Reserve official that interest rates in the United States are likely to stay low for quite some time.

Global equities measured by the MSCI All-Country World rose 0.72 per cent after rising to the highest since late September of 2008. Emerging stocks hit 17-month highs rising 1.09 per cent, following a 74 per cent rally last year.

“We have got a lot of data coming out over the next few weeks and the fourth-quarter earnings season in the United States is about to start, so there is every reason for investors to stay on the sidelines.” said Jim Wood Smith, head of research at Williams de Broe in London.

Growth in China’s exports and imports last month pushed commodities higher with gold rising 1.4 per cent to a 5-week high, copper jumping 1.5 per cent and aluminium advancing 2.45 per cent.

Exports rose 17.7 per cent from a year earlier, dwarfing the 4.0 per cent rise forecast by economists and breaking a 13-month streak of year-on-year declines. Imports surged 55.9 per cent, much more than the 31.0 per cent increase markets had expected.

Crude oil prices slipped to US$82.22 a barrel on forecasts for warmer US weather ahead from last few weeks’ freeze, after an earlier high near US$84 (RM280) a barrel.

DOLLAR & BONDS

A surge in Chinese exports increased optimism the global economy is recovering and boosted risk appetite, pushing investors to drop safe-haven dollars.

The dollar fell 0.61 per cent at 77.001. The euro rose 0.44 per cent at US$1.4519 having hit its highest level in more than three weeks at US$1.4557. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar fell 0.57 per cent at 92.08 from a previous session close of 92.610.

The US currency also continued to be pressured after data on Friday showed US employers cut 85,000 jobs last month, disappointing many in the market who had expected the US economy to stop losing jobs.

“The combination of the weak jobs report last week and the realization that the Fed is going to keep rates low for a long time has put a stop to the recent dollar rally,” said Vassili Serebriakov, a currency strategist, at Wells Fargo Bank.

Meanwhile, US Treasuries traded mostly higher, as investors nibbled at low-risk assets due to weaker stock prices and solid demand at a US$10 billion auction of government inflation-protected bonds.

Benchmark 10-year Treasuries were up 2/32 for a yield of 3.83 per cent, down 1 basis point from late Thursday.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst index of top shares closed down 0.1 per cent at 1,063.82 points, after touching a new 15-month high of 1,074.50.

Stockmarket Respect: Can You All Rise?

World stocks rose yesterday (12 January)hitting 15-month highs on stronger-than-expected Chinese trade data, reviving bets on global economic recovery, while the US dollar fell broadly as risk appetite increased.

US stocks zig-zagged as investors took a breather after a week of gains that pushed the S&P 500 to close at fresh 15-month highs, while nervous investors braced for the start of the quarterly earnings reporting season.

The US dollar fell following Friday’s weak US jobs data and comments from a Federal Reserve official that interest rates in the United States are likely to stay low for quite some time.

Global equities measured by the MSCI All-Country World rose 0.72 per cent after rising to the highest since late September of 2008. Emerging stocks hit 17-month highs rising 1.09 per cent, following a 74 per cent rally last year.

“We have got a lot of data coming out over the next few weeks and the fourth-quarter earnings season in the United States is about to start, so there is every reason for investors to stay on the sidelines.” said Jim Wood Smith, head of research at Williams de Broe in London.

Growth in China’s exports and imports last month pushed commodities higher with gold rising 1.4 per cent to a 5-week high, copper jumping 1.5 per cent and aluminium advancing 2.45 per cent.

Exports rose 17.7 per cent from a year earlier, dwarfing the 4.0 per cent rise forecast by economists and breaking a 13-month streak of year-on-year declines. Imports surged 55.9 per cent, much more than the 31.0 per cent increase markets had expected.

Crude oil prices slipped to US$82.22 a barrel on forecasts for warmer US weather ahead from last few weeks’ freeze, after an earlier high near US$84 (RM280) a barrel.

DOLLAR & BONDS

A surge in Chinese exports increased optimism the global economy is recovering and boosted risk appetite, pushing investors to drop safe-haven dollars.

The dollar fell 0.61 per cent at 77.001. The euro rose 0.44 per cent at US$1.4519 having hit its highest level in more than three weeks at US$1.4557. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar fell 0.57 per cent at 92.08 from a previous session close of 92.610.

The US currency also continued to be pressured after data on Friday showed US employers cut 85,000 jobs last month, disappointing many in the market who had expected the US economy to stop losing jobs.

“The combination of the weak jobs report last week and the realization that the Fed is going to keep rates low for a long time has put a stop to the recent dollar rally,” said Vassili Serebriakov, a currency strategist, at Wells Fargo Bank.

Meanwhile, US Treasuries traded mostly higher, as investors nibbled at low-risk assets due to weaker stock prices and solid demand at a US$10 billion auction of government inflation-protected bonds.

Benchmark 10-year Treasuries were up 2/32 for a yield of 3.83 per cent, down 1 basis point from late Thursday.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst index of top shares closed down 0.1 per cent at 1,063.82 points, after touching a new 15-month high of 1,074.50.

Japanese markets were closed for the Coming of Age Day. — Reuters

A Malaysian Can top the GCE Exams in Singapore?

Wanna bet?

Believe me, put your mind and your heart to it and you can do what she just did.

A Malaysian girl who studied in a Singapore school emerged tops in the city-state after she scored 10 A1s in the 2009 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (Ordinary Level) Examination.

Lai Kai Rou, 16, who hails from Selangor, studied at CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School (SNGS) which also topped Singapore schools with 14 of the 42 state best scorers being its students scoring 9 A1s, according to the Education Ministry which released the result today.

The Singapore-Cambridge GCE O-Level Examination was conducted jointly by the University of Cambridge International Examinations, the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board and the ministry.

A total of 37,424 school candidates sat for the 2009 O-Level Examination and 37,380 or 99.9 percent had been awarded certificates, the ministry said. Lai entered the Singapore school four years ago after completing his primary school in a Chinese school.

Malaysia Boleh di Singapura!

The Overloaded LDP

Choose to be on the LDP around the Kelana Jaya Secondary School and the Giant Mall vicinity and you are going to be in a lot of trouble,not withstanding that you have just paid your not inexpensive toll fare at the IOI toll plaza. The number of cars virtually sitting on the LDP bumper to bumper is one big crying shame.


For me, just to get from the left hand side of the Kelana LRT Terminal to the other side where St. Ignatius Church stands took almost one hour of my life this evening.

Will we ever learn to be build tollways that disperse traffic away from neighbourhoods? The criss-crossing LDP which sliced apart the neigbourhoods of Kelana Jaya is one big mistake!We are paying big time!

Singapore: Always the Hopeful

So what do you know.

The Singapore government said today it expects unemployment to stay high for some time and growth momentum to slow in the second half of this year, though the risk of a double-dip recession is low.

Reuters reported that thses comments came from the country's trade minister after data showed last week that the economy contracted in the fourth quarter of 2009 having emerged from recession earlier that year. A second straight quarter of contraction would meet the common definition of recession. "The risk of a return to recession is low in the absence of further financial shocks," Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang told Parliament.

"But growth momentum in the second half of 2010 may slow down as the effects of global fiscal stimulus measures and inventory restocking wane," he said.

Singapore's recovery from its worst recession faltered in the fourth quarter as the economy shrank 6.8 per cent on a seasonally adjusted and annualised basis, reflecting weaker manufacturing, preliminary data showed last week.

Singapore's government expects growth this year of between 3 per cent and 5 per cent compared with an estimated contraction of 2.1 per cent in 2009, the GDP estimates released last week showed.

Lim said pledges among members of the G20 and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meant that protectionism, which could derail global trade and growth, had been largely kept in check.

"Growth in 2010 may also be derailed if creeping trade protectionism becomes more prevalent and causes global trade flows to contract again. But the likelihood of this scenario is low," he said.

Malaysia: Down Another 9% for Manufacturing

The November manufaturing numbers for Malaysia are worrisome. Manufacturing sales declined 8.1 pct to RM41.9 billion in November last year compared with November 2008. The figure was also a drop by 6.2 pct from the preceding month of October, the Statistics Department said in a statement today.

On a cumulative basis, the sales value of the manufacturing sector from January to November 2009 was down by 21.2 per cent to RM426.9 billion compared with the previous corresponding period.

The decline in sales from the RM45.6 billion registered in November 2008 was due to the drop in the sales value of 58 industries out of 116 industries covered under a survey, the department said.

The five major industries with significant decreases were refined petroleum products (38.6 per cent), computer and computer peripherals (14.9 per cent), basic iron and steel products (14.2 per cent), motor vehicle (14.9 per cent) and that of other basic precious and non-ferrous metals (34.5 per cent).

On a month-on-month basis, the drop in November from preceding October was the result of lower sales value in 78 industries out of 116 industries covered in the survey.

Decreases were registered in the five major industries including the manufacture of refined petroleum products (9.4 per cent), computer and computer peripherals (18.1 per cent), basic iron and steel products (16.2 per cent), electronic valves and tubes and printed circuit board (11.3 per cent), and television and radio receivers, sound and video recording or reproducing apparatus, and associated goods (8.1 per cent).

In November 2009, total employees engaged in the manufacturing sector was 942,013, an increase of 0.3 per cent from the preceding month but was 3.6 per cent lower than the 977,068 persons employed in November 2008.

Total employees in October 2009 stood at 938,780 workers.

For the January to November period 2009, the number of employees engaged decreased 3.6 per cent to 942,013 persons compared with the previous corresponding period, it added.

In terms of salaries and wages, it said a total RM2.02 billion was paid during the month under review, up 0.3 per cent from the preceding month and was an increase of 2.1 per cent from a year ago.

In terms of productivity or average sales value per employee, it decreased 6.5 per cent month-on-month in November to register RM44,441. — Bernama