The Cartoonist Wins

Cartoon Creativity is allowed

What I have observed lately is the courts have began making very good decisions.

Maybe Tun Arifin Zakaria has been given more leeway to dispense justice by the current BN government under Najib.

This is good especially for our liberal Nottingham graduate PM who is more open than some of his predecessors.

Perhaps the time is right for more liberalism in the press.

The Zunar decision where the courts decide that it was procedurally correct and right  to arrest and detain Zunar is a fair one from the Palace of Justice.

At least the AG's Office and the police have done it right this time.

That the court has also decided that holding back Zunar's books is unfair is another great decision. The books will henceforth be returned to Zunar and we should see more creativity in cartoon world assuming he does it within legal bounds.

BJF-Last Day to Subscribe for Your Rights

BJF price not too spicy,though

31st July-this is the last day for you if you want to subscribe for BJF rights.

5 p.m. and it will all be over.

So, let us look at the trading on the last day.

Looks like Vincent and his cohort are just lying down and leaving BJF alone.

So, if you buy the rights and warrants at 65 sen, the difference will be 35 sen and deducting for overheads, you will stand to make about 32 sen provided the price lekat-lah....


Right now, the highest done is RM1.02 with a volume of 860 lots.

There is a tug-of-war price at RM1.00 and RM1.01.

The ending prices were spiraling downwards towards the ending bell

No break-out. In fact it shun 2.5 sen to 0.97 sen.

A minor disaster for the Starbucks counter.

YTL Corp-Is EPF The Bear?

Abode of the Super Rich Yeohs

Looks like that to me.

Their representative buyers must have been given the go-ahead to buy the maximum possible at the best price.

So, as those who want to cash out from the bonds they have been tied up for so long, they weakened to let go to these parasitic buyers of EPF that are mauling the price of YTL down like the devil let loose.

Living it up, Francis?

Today, beginning from the opening bell, they have been ripping and paring down to price to bring it to another low of RM1.85; and I think there will be a level that YTL should come in with a Treasury buy.

The conversion price of the bond was RM1.80. Deducting for brokerage, the price is being cut too thin for comfort.

I expect a rebound back at least to RM1.90 and beyond in no time when the digestion ends.

Ice Age 4- A Failure to Capitalise

Piracy During the Ice-Age

I think the hype on Ice Age 4 started at least a calendar year before the film's release.

The excitement it generated must have made an anti-climax of the cartoon movie.

As usual, the movie starts with Scrat the squirrel chasing after his acorn that causes the continental drift to occur when he caused the earth's core to go hay-wire.

I thought that Madagascar has taken away the pirate theme but was surprised that this is once again recycled and hijacked here as the pivotal part of Ice Age 4.

True, they added new stars like Manny and Elise's daughter, Peaches, Shira the female sabre, toothless Granny of Sid, Louis the molehog; and Precious the whale.

On the other side were the pirates led by a gorilla-like creature  called Captain Gutt and his assortment of ridiculous-looking crew including a wayward rabbit as his side-kick. As usual, they have their share of those tiny little creatures called hyraxes to come to their aid in battle against the gorilla Captain Gutt.

The dialogue is so-so and not as great as Brave.

The interesting thing is that they used ice-bergs floats as ships.

The 3-D is not all that startling as well.

Final analysis-keep your money.

YTL Corp- The EPF Mickey Mouse

Run silent,run deep 

I do feel suspicious when EPF comes into the market and buy shares.

I know they had been selling away some of their hot shot blue chips to take up government linked shares like Gas Malaysia,FGV and now IHH.

They have been throwing out super dukes like TM, Digi, Public Bank (PBB),Tenaga,Axiata, KLK and even PPB for sometime.

I see a trend of buying back now on these blue chips as they liquidate  excess FGV shares and all other government linked shares that they have taken up on their IPO.

I noted that they have bought back a lot into PBB and PPB.

Now what interest me a lot is this continuous buying into YTL Corp.

What gives?

Let us see how much they have been buying. YTL.The total number of shares for YTL is now  10,608,755,462

Total holdings of EPF is now 811,610,853.

Looking of the EPF trade on this counter from 11 July until  25 July, it can be seen that there is more buying than selling. Except for selling conducted on 13 July where EPF disposed 1.7 million shares, the other days represent buying days as follows:

24 July: 2,194,000

23 July: 3,000,000
20 July: 2,673,100
19 July: 2,000,000
18 July: 1,623,400
16 July: 2,449,800
12 July: 1,600,000
11 July: 2,161,200

So, why is EPF collecting shares on YTL Corp?

PS:

 The current decline in share price is because of the exchange of 5-Years Guaranteed Exchangeable bonds 2010/2015 into ordinary shares of 0.10 sen each. It will take sometime to digest.

I think EPF is buying on this volume weakness when weak sellers  dispose their holdings for cash.

Some 12,912,665 shares are new shares being traded.

Seoul Days

The mighty Han River with Seoul in the Background

Were they soulless days?

Was the short stay of about three weeks life-changing?

Another public office junket?

One thing-as I reflect of those days.

True, it was a new place. The people were almost Chinese though they speak differently.

I only knew one great word you must have-the Korean equivalent of toilet to be able to be at peace with yourself biologically.

Mostly, it was  on my colleague and  friend, Harun Masri from days gone by at the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment.

Harun was one odd chap. I do not fault him being a Muslim in a strange land . But what I like about him was his sheer determination when doing things in Korea. He hardly touch Korean food but he shopped for cheap coats and Korean silk ties like as if there will be no tomorrow.

Together with a Filipino buddy, we would shop from Tong-daemon (Northern City Gate) to Nan-daemon (Southern City Gate).

When I wanted a lunch or dinner partner, I go over to Harun's hotel room.

My search for a meal ended there because Harun would be cooking in his room. Rice and  sardines, Maggie mee (noodle) and clear soups. I shared his food.

Sadly, I came to know many years later that Harun passed on because of lung cancer.

A pharmacist, an R&D grant administrator as well as a computer expert wannabe, Harun had spunk.

I do remember him well even though he is no longer here any more.

Malaysians- Beware the Imminent Perfect Storm

Drowning Storm of Debts

Malaysia is one of the most vulnerable Asian economies should a “perfect storm” of a disorderly debt default in Europe a slowdown in China and the US and rising tensions in the Middle East materialise Roubini Global Economics RGE has said in a recent report The strategic research firm best known for its founder “Dr Doom” Nouriel Roubini who predicted the collapse of the US housing market and the 2008 global financial crisis said that Malaysia had the highest exposure to a pullout of capital as its eurozone and US bank claims amount to more than 25 per cent of GDP.

Super Exposure-Suicidal?

RGE added that Malaysia was the second most exposed in terms of a demand slowdown in the US the eurozone and China making it the most exposed Asian economy overall The report also said that the country was among the lowest ranked in terms of monetary and fiscal capacity to respond to a crisis coming in ahead of only Thailand Japan and Indonesia “Malaysia Taiwan South Korea and Vietnam appear to be the most exposed to a perfect storm through their trade and financial linkages while South Korea Australia Vietnam and the Philippines appear to have the most policy space to offset such an external shock ” said RGE “Taking these two factors together Malaysia Taiwan Japan and Thailand are the most vulnerable of the 10 economies considered in this analysis while Australia India South Korea and the Philippines are the least ” RGE said that while Malaysian government revenues have increased the hole in its finances could grow due to “populist” spending and an expected cut in Petronas’ dividends “In the run-up to elections the government is likely to offer more cash handouts in the 2013 Budget leaving fewer resources for productive investment ” said the report “We see the debt-to-GDP ratio reaching 54 6 per cent next year leaving little room to manoeuvre in the event of an external shock ” RGE noted that in its most recent effort to boost its popularity ahead of an upcoming general election the Malaysian government announced a supplementary budget of RM13 8 billion in June some 80 per cent of which is allocated towards maintaining oil subsidies and raising civil servant wages It added that it expects Bank Negara to cut interest rates to 2 5 per cent by the end of 2013 to deal with slowing growth in Europe and China.

Economists and analysts had earlier said that Malaysia’s federal government debt which nearly doubled since 2007 to RM421 billion pose a fiscal risk to the country if not managed carefully as it impairs the country’s resilience to the increasing frequency of economic shocks They said that while government debt — currently at about 54 per cent of gross domestic product GDP and the second highest in Asia — has not significantly impacted the country and its credit standing so far the volatile nature of global markets may cause sentiment to turn with little warning Figures from the Federal Treasury’s Economic Reports show that the federal government’s domestic debt almost doubled in the space of less than five years — from RM247 billion in 2007 to an estimated RM421 billion in 2011 — far outpacing its revenues which only grew 31 per cent or from RM140 billion to RM183 billion during the same period Government-backed loans rose rapidly as well between 1985 and 2010 — from RM11 billion to RM96 billion — representing a growth of 8 7 per cent per annum Investors in recent weeks have reportedly shown a preference for US and Singapore assets rather than Malaysia’s in times of uncertainty despite the 10-year MGS Malaysian Government Securities offering a yield of about 3 4 per cent compared to less than 1 5 per cent for both 10-year Singapore government bond and 10-year US Treasury bonds Roubini had in May reportedly predicted that four elements — economic slowdown in the US the debt crisis in Europe a slowdown in China and emerging markets and military conflict in Iran — would combine to create a storm for the global economy in 2013.