Kylie Minogue-Ex-Cancer Model

 Pop star Kylie Minogue has been voted the most inspirational breast cancer star for her willingness to speak openly and honestly about dealing with the disease.

The Australian singer, 42, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and underwent surgery and hair-losing chemotherapy.

But Minogue , whose career began on the TV soap opera “Neighbours,” returned to the stage within a year and continues to perform. She toured 21 countries last year, and just released her 11th studio album, “Aphrodite.”

Minogue topped an online poll of 1,000 participants by British-based mastectomy-wear specialist Amoena, coming ahead of other celebrities affected by breast cancer like the late Linda McCartney and singer Olivia Newton-John.

“Kylie inspired many women to be more direct about their own fears, encouraging them to believe they would get through their ordeal,” Amoena spokeswoman Rhoda White said in a statement.

“Undergoing a mastectomy can badly damage a woman’s body confidence and self-image, and celebrities like Kylie play a vital role in raising public awareness.”

According to the American Cancer Society and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1.3 million new breast cancer cases are diagnosed around the world every year and it kills 465,000 women annually, making it the leading global cancer killer of women.

Other celebrities to publicly battle breast cancer include singer Sheryl Crow who campaigns for women to have regular mammograms, and British actress Lynn Redgrave who died of the disease earlier this year after writing a book about her battle.

The list also includes actresses Maggie Smith, Christine Applegate, Maura Tierney, Cynthia Nixon, Edie Falco, Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson, Sally Whittaker, singers Melissa Etheridge and Carly Simon, and US TV anchorwoman Robin Roberts.

White said women facing breast cancer were inspired by well-known women sharing their experiences with the disease but they also looked close to home for help.

“Many women said support from family, friends and other women who had been through breast cancer treatment, was the biggest motivator,” she said.

No More Rate Hikes for 2010

September 02, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 – Malaysia’s central bank held its key interest rate steady at 2.75 per cent today, in line with expectations, and economists said it would stay pat for the rest of this year due to concerns over the global economy.

Bank Negara said that while domestic growth drivers remained “robust”, the slowdown in demand for exports from Asia’s third most trade-dependent economy, would drag on economic growth.

Trade data released just after the rate decision showed that export in July slowed to 13.5 per cent from a year earlier from 17.2 per cent growth in June.

“I think this is justified, they moved pre-emptively, the global economy is slowing and rates are at a neutral level,” said Kit Wei Zheng, economist at Citibank in Singapore.

Malaysia’s central bank started tightening policy earlier than most other central banks in Asia and had made three consecutive 25 basis point hikes already. A Reuters poll showed it would hold rates today.

Malaysia’s consumer price inflation index ticked up to an annual 1.9 per cent in July from 1.7 per cent in July after the government implemented small price hikes for food and fuel.

“Despite the adjustment in retail fuel prices in July, inflation is expected to rise at a modest pace in the coming months. Going into 2011, inflation is projected to remain moderate,” the central bank said in its statement.
The pace of economic growth in Malaysia slowed to 8.9 per cent in the second quarter from the first quarter’s blistering 10.1 per cent and that pattern is expected to continue in the second half of 2010 as concerns emerge over the strength of the global economic recovery.

Interest rate hikes by the central bank mirrored the faster pace of growth in the first half and most economists now see Malaysia’s economic growth slowing in the second half of the year to 5-6 per cent.

The three-month KLIBOR was quoted at 2.92 per cent today. In the forward starting swaps space, the 3-month rates swap on a contract starting after three months was also quoted at 2.94 per cent.

This implies the market pricing in 2 bps of rate hikes until end-November. The central bank’s last monetary policy meeting for the year is on November 12.

Bursar KL Stocks are No Longer Cheap!

Most leading Malaysian firms, led by the big banks, posted robust growth in profits in the three months ended June 30, with quite a few exceeding forecasts.

But a surge of funds flowing into the market in recent months means stock valuations on a price/earnings basis are not getting any cheaper.

In fact, stocks remained expensive compared to their historical price/earnings ratio (PER) average, according to a report by RHB Research Institute yesterday.

“The stronger trading values of the top 100 stocks on a one-month and three-month basis suggests that investors are already looking beyond the relatively expensive 2010 PER valuation,” it said.

RHB Research calculated that local stocks are priced at 16.7 times based on projected earnings this year. This was higher than the post Asian financial crisis mean PER of 16 times and one-year forward PER value of 15 times.
The firm’s forecast put the PER for 2011 at 14.7 times and a normalised earnings growth of 14.5%.

“Our corporate earnings forecast have largely taken into account the anticipated slowdown in the Malaysian economy to 5% in 2011 from 7.3% in 2010,” it said.

The firm said banks and plantation companies attracted the biggest inflow of funds in August. There was a net inflow of US$308mil into local equities from foreign funds in July.

CIMB Research, in a report dated Aug 26, predicted foreign funds to remain as net buyers in August as the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KL Composite Index (FBM KLCI) has scaled to new highs. The ringgit has also reached a 13-year high against the US dollar.

“The excellent performance in August was driven by fundamentals, including the excellent results by blue chips like banks, Axiata Group Bhd and Genting Bhd,” OSK Research’s head Chris Eng said in a note yesterday.

He advised investors to keep buying big capitalised stocks and listed down the firm’s top picks as Malayan Banking Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Axiata, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and SP Setia Bhd.

Shares in Maybank jumped 10 sen yesterday to a new 30-month high of RM8.49, lifting its market capitalisation to RM60bil.

Rival CIMB was unchanged at RM7.80, with its market value standing at RM57.3bil. Shares in Maybank had gained 10.8% over the past two weeks, faster than CIMB’s 6.4% rise over the same period.

“We expect growth in the banking sector to continue to outperform other sectors,” said JF Apex Securities head of research Norhashmilaidi Hashim.

The FBM KLCI climbed 9.47 points, or 0.7%, to 1,431.96 points yesterday. The index had gone up 4.5% over the past two weeks.

So are you fully invested?

PPB: Capacity Expansion

Robert Kuok's PPB Group plans to expand its flour/feed milling division with another two mills, one in Indonesia and one in Vietnam.

Managing director Tan Gee Sooi said at a press briefing today that the company was in talks with landowners in both countries for the flour mill sites.

He said the company was negotiating for a site in Indonesia with the landowner.

Tan added that the company had identified several locations in Vietnam and started tentative talks but nothing concrete has been decided.

He said the site would likely be located in Northern Vietnam.

The company has five mills in Malaysia.

Tan said future expansion for the division would be abroad.

PPB current has a 51% stake in two 500-tonne capacity mills in Indonesia.

PPB Group Bhd also indicated plans to diversify into the bakery business and expand its land bank and cinema operations after selling its sugar refining business, according to a company presentation in Kuala Lumpur today so says  Bloomberg.

So, can you see the picture now?  PPB is going  local and global aw well!