KUALA LUMPUR: The third-quarter GDP data for Malaysia, which beat expectations, should provide some support for investors to nibble on equities for the coming trade-shortened week, starting Nov 23.Hovever, the continued weakness on Wall Street could check the buying interest after US stocks fell for a third straight day on Friday following weaker-than-expected results from Dell and homebuilder D.R. Horton.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.14% to 10,318.16. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 0.32% to 1,091.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.50% to 2,146.04.
As for the Malaysian economy, the worst is over as GDP contracted moderately to 1.2% in the 3Q, mainly due to a decline in the manufacturing sector. However, the economy showed signs of recovery after shrinking 3.9% in 2Q and 6.2% in 1Q.
As for corporate news, there were some positive results from AIRASIA BHD [], TELEKOM MALAYSIA BHD [], PLUS EXPRESSWAYS BHD [] and PPB GROUP BHD []. Meanwhile, UZMA BHD [] reported successful drilling in Mongolia while in Sino Hua-An, Lembaga Tabung Haji had continued to increase its stake.
Other earnings expected this week are from Sime Darby, IOI Corp, KL Kepong, MAS, Axiata and Proton.
AirAsia Bhd posted net profit of RM130.07 million in 3Q from net loss of RM465.53 million a year ago as revenue improved and it reported forex translation gain.
Its 3Q revenue rose 4% to RM739.67 million from RM707.91 million while earnings per share were 5.30 sen versus loss per share of 19.6 sen. Core operating profit was RM34 million, a reversal from a loss of RM82 million in 3Q08. The strengthening of the ringgit against the US dollar has resulted in a translation gain of RM102 million during the quarter.
In Telekom, its operating profit before finance cost rose 186.1% to RM212.3 million from RM74.2 million a year ago. The better peformance was mainly due to higher revenue, lower depreciation charge in current year quarter and loss on disposal of an equity investment in 3Q08.
PLUS Expressways Bhd reported net profit of RM311.5 million vs RM241.75 million. It has thus far achieved 28.1% lane-kilometre growth against the target of 30% growth in lane kilometre
by end 2009.
Toll collection in 3Q was higher by RM61.7 million or 11.4% as compared to the third quarter 2008. The increase was mainly due to higher contribution from PLUS of RM55.0 million attributable to a traffic growth of 14.2% in the current quarter as a result of the high travelling during the Hari Raya festive. Total revenue for 3Q of RM815.2 million was RM98.0 million or 13.7% higher than a year ago.
In PPB Group, 3Q net profit rose surged 187.5% to RM595.1 million from a year ago due mainly to a higher profit contribution of RM943 million from its associate Wilmar International Ltd as well as improved results of its sugar refining operations.
Uzma reported it has successfully completed the Baiyin Chagan Da-9 drilling in Inner Mongolia. The drilling consist of five wells cluster aimed mainly at establishing a pattern for further field development and one strategic well at the neighboring field, Da-13 to extend UZMA's vision in looking ahead for more opportunities to develop into the future.
In Sino Hua-An, LEmbaga Tabung Haji bought six more million shares from Nov 16 to 18, increasing its stake to 7.29% or 81.8 million shares.
Written by Joseph Chin
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