KL shares remain weak at midmorning

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia remained weak at midmorning today amid bearish sentiment in the global market on renewed worries over the euro zone debt crisis, dealers said.

At 10.45am, the underlying FBM KLCI declined 9.79 points or 0.64 per cent to 1,513.28 after opening 2.68 points lower at 1,520.39.

Trading was bearish with 399 losers and 115 losers while 219 counters traded unchanged.

Volume was 459.44 million shares valued at RM243.59 million.

A dealer said investors turned wary of risk after credit rating downgrades for nine euro zone economies including France, Italy and Spain.

On Bursa Malaysia, the Finance Index fell 83.22 points to 13,368.45, the Plantation Index dropped 56.14 points to 8,449.84 and the Industrial Index slid 14.85 points to 2,783.17.

The FBM Emas Index declined 70.04 points to 10,442.36, the FBM Mid 70 Index dwindled 91.53 points to 11,746.99 and the FBM ACE Index decreased 36.19 points to 4,264.28.

Among volume leaders, Compugates wsa up one sen to eight sen, Asia Media rose 5.5 sen to 35 sen and Digistar gained two sen to 48.5 sen.

Among heavyweights, Maybank slipped six sen to RM8.20, Sime Darby dipped five sen to RM9.10 and CIMB fell seven sen to RM7.20. -- BERNAMA



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CIMB Research has technical buy on Asia Media at 28.5c

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): CIMB Equities Research has a technical buy on Asia Media Group Bhd at 28.5 sen at which it trading at a price-to-book value of 1.1 times.

It said on Thursday Asia Media broke out of its triangle pattern on Wednesday.

“We think there is still room to the upside. If we are right, the candles should swing past yesterday’s high of 31 sen again soon. The following resistance levels are 33 sen and 35 sen,” it said.

CIMB Research said the MACD signal line is hovering in the positive territory while RSI is also rising. The positive readings reinforce its short term bullish stance on the stock.

“Risk takers may start to nibble now while others should wait for a push above 29.5 sen before going long. Put a stop at below 27 sen,” it said.

Asia Media Group is a digital out-of-home Transit TV company. The company is a media provider, offering infotainment and targeted advertising through the use of digital electronic displays installed in various outdoor premises.

Asia media has LCD screens installed in buses travelling in the market centric hubs of Klang Valley and Johor Bahru.



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Bigger network for Asia Media

Asia Media Group's first step in the plan to launch the terrestrial digital TV station is to launch the "out-of-home service".

Puchong: Asia Media Group Bhd, the country's largest transit-television network operator, plans to launch a terrestrial digital TV station by as early as the first quarter of next year, said its controlling stakeholder Datuk Ricky Wong Shee Kai.

"We have started testing works in Puchong and Shah Alam early this month, and have allocated as much as RM50 million in capital expenditure next year to help us with the launch in the Klang Valley," Wong told Business Times in an interview at his office.

Wong, who owns slightly more than 45 per cent of Asia Media, is also the chief executive officer of the company.

"A partial launch will be done in the first quarter, and by the second quarter, we should be in full swing," said Wong.

He said the first step in the plan to launch the terrestrial digital TV station is to launch the "out-of-home service".

"Out-of-home service means that people who use public transport such as the Rapid buses and the city's rail service will be able to watch live TV," said Wong.

Currently, Asia Media operates transit TV services for the city buses, but most of the feed are pre-recorded, with the content coming from third parties.

"We will be recruiting as many as 100 people - (newscasters, talk show hosts, technical support people) and plan to rent a studio in Damansara for the live TV version," said Wong, adding that by going live, Asia Media is hoping to rake in more advertisement dollars.

Asia Media is expecting to bring in as much as RM50 million next year from advertisements alone.

Wong said most of the shows will be in English and Bahasa Malaysia, with content coming directly from Asia Media. "We will be focusing on news-based items as well as talk shows," said Wong, adding that the company also has a licence to operate a radio network.

"The radio network will focus mainly on the Chinese market," said Wong.

He added that while the live show concept is new to Southeast Asia, it has been successfully operated in countries such as Japan, Taiwan and Korea.

"We can also operate a subscription-based as well as free-to-air terrestrial digital TV, but we have to be realistic," said Wong.

According to Wong, apart from the cost, finding the right content is the major drawback, pulling the company away from this path.

"We are committed to spend RM500 million over a 10-year period to bring the out-of-home terrestrial digital TV station to areas outside the Klang Valley such as Ipoh, Penang and Johor ... so it will be taxing for us to fight on two fronts," said Wong.

He said Asia Media does not want to expand for the sake of expanding. "We only want to do so if it keeps us profitable," said Wong, adding that he is confident Asia Media will post a pre-tax profit of about RM15 million this year.

Last Friday, Asia Media said for the nine months ended August 30 2011, the firm's pre-tax profit stood at RM11.74 million versus RM8.13 million in the same period a year ago.