KLCI up 5pts in morning trade

KUALA LUMPUR (April 6) : The FBM KLCI rebounded on Friday morning following two consecutive days of losses as investors weigh global economic prospects in Europe and the US, against pre-election sentiment in Malaysia.

In technical terms, analysts said the FBM KLCI has touched its lower support trend line, and a break below that level could add downward pressure on the equity gauge.

“Nevertheless, the overall trend of the FBM KLCI still remained up. As the total volume continued to dwindle, the overall market is likely to remain in a consolidation mode with some penny stocks in rotational play,” SJ Securities Sdn Bhd wrote in a note.

The stock barometer added 5.02 points to 1,598.46 at 10am with some 237 million shares worth RM111 million changing hands. There were 206 gainers versus 119 declining stocks.

Top gainers BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO (M) [] Bhd rose 70 sen to RM55.68 while TRADEWINDS (M) BHD [], was up 18 sen to RM9.97.

Decliners KUALA LUMPUR KEPONG BHD [] fell 10 sen to RM24.50 while HWANG-DBS (M) BHD [] was down seven sen to RM2.41.

Most active was Naim Indah Corp Bhd which added two sen to 50.5 sen with some 37 million shares done.

Among Asian equity benchmarks, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.52% to 9,716.39 points while South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.07% to 2,027.35.

The Hong Kong and Australian bourses are closed on Friday and next Monday for the Good Friday and Easter holiday season. Singapore and US markets are not traded on Friday.



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Hwang DBS 2Q pre-tax profit dips to RM23.4m

KUALA LUMPUR (March 28): Hwang-DBS (Malaysia) Bhd's pre-tax profit for the second quarter ended Jan 31, 2012, slipped to RM23.45 million from RM32.78 million in the same quarter last year.

Revenue fell to RM91.54 million from RM109.61 million previously, Hwang-DBS said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday.

"The uncertain global financial conditions have affected the equity and capital markets in which we operate in.

"The lower profitability was mainly attributable to reduction in brokerage income, net interest income, advisory fee income and marked-to-market gain on derivatives," it said. - Bernama



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Hwang-DBS 1Q down 34%

KUALA LUMPUR: Hwang-DBS (M) Bhd’s net profit fell 34% to RM14.19 million for 1QFY12 ended Oct 31 from RM21.5 million a year earlier, due to reduction in stockbroking income, and lower mark-to-market gain on securities held for trading.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Hwang-DBS also attributed its lower net interest income to narrowing of interest margin and net loss incurred on derivatives. However, it noted that the losses were cushioned by net foreign exchange gain and an insurance receipt by a subsidiary.

Its net interest income was RM21.07 million, 16.4% lower than RM25.21 million a year earlier. Hwang-DBS’ revenue fell 13.43% to RM83.43 million from RM96.37 million a year ago. It posted basic earnings per share of 5.56 sen versus 8.42 sen.

“The operating revenue for the period under review is impacted by the lower stockbroking brokerage income in line with lower value traded by the investment banking subsidiary and decrease in interest income derived from loan portfolios,” it said. These were, however, mitigated by higher management fees and gains from securities trading.

Hwang-DBS gained eight sen to close at RM2.33 with 11,000 shares traded.


This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, December 9, 2011.



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Hwang-DBS: No Alliance merger scheme

HWANG-DBS (M) Bhd yesterday dismissed media reports of a merger scheme with Alliance Financial Group Bhd (AFG).

"This is speculative and we have nothing to comment.

"So far the board has not deliberated on the possibility of any merger and we will take market conditions as a cue," its director Eric Ang told Business Times after Hwang-DBS' annual shareholders meeting at Hotel Equatorial.

Also present was director Alex Hwang Lip Teik.

When asked to comment on reports if banking giant DBS Group Holdings Ltd was a key player in merger talks, Ang who is also the managing director and head of capital markets group for DBS Bank of Singapore said: "The current state of our partnership is already working very well." He did not elaborate.

DBS Bank owns 28 per cent of Penang-based Hwang-DBS, which has a market capitalisation of RM595 million and is involved in stockbroking, wholesale banking and consumer finance.

For its 2011 fiscal year ended July 31, Hwang-DBS' net profit rose 42 per cent to RM91.46 million. This compares with RM64.4 million the year before. Revenue came in at RM399.3 million against RM346.9 million previously.

Meanwhile, Hwang-DBS is upgrading its Internet trading system infrastructure to take advantage of the increasing growth rate of Malaysia's Internet-banking platform.

"We are looking at an initial investment outlay of between RM1 million and RM2 million and we hope to implement our new Internet trading strategies by next year," he added.



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HDBSVR sees KLCI to be range-bound

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 23): Hwang DBS Vickers Research expects the benchmark FBM KLCI to range-bound with slight downward bias on Wednesday.

It said on the chart, the index may be bouncing back and forth between the immediate support and resistance levels of 1,415 and 1,445.

Meanwhile, key U.S. equity indices closed between -0.1% and -0.5% last night due to the lower-than-expected 3Q GDP data which was revised down to 2% from the previous estimate of 2.5%, providing little certainty for the pace of recovery in the near term.

“Back home, stocks that will likely see added interest today include: (a) KNM, after reporting shocking 3Q11 net loss last night which was way below expectations, (b) Alliance Financial Group and Hwang-DBS, following news report that the companies are potentially looking at a merger exercise, and (c) AirAsia, given its 3Q11 core net profit that came far below consensus estimate,” it said.



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KLCI extends losses as Asian markets stay jittery

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): The FBM KLCI extended its losses at mid-morning on Thursday, Nov 17 in line with the weaker key regional markets following the overnight plunge at Wall Street as US stocks fell on fears of a contagion from eurozone crisis.

Asian shares and the euro fell further on Thursday as doubts deepened about Europe's ability to stop its sovereign debt crisis from spinning out of control, with the region's biggest nations split over the European Central Bank's bond buying role, according to Reuters.

The focus of concern is shifting to difficulties in securing funds from money markets, where strains are intensifying due to rising government borrowing costs that have made financial institutions reluctant to buy sovereign bonds and lend to each other for fear of counterparty exposure to euro zone debts, it said.

The FBM KLCI fell 6.05 points to 1,470.79 at 10am.

Losers led gainers by 250 to 122, while 201 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 316.5 million shares valued at RM156.42 million.

At the regional markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 1.28% to 18,718.55, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.87% to 2,783.02, Taiwan’s Taiex was down 0.56% to 7,346.12, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.17% to 8,448.74 and South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.06% to 1,854.97.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.29% to 2,474.08.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd head of retail research and chief chartist Lee Cheng Hooi in a note to clients said that due to US markets’ very poor tone last night, there could be another downward day for the local index.

He advised investors to trade with a short-term time frame locally.

“It is unwise to join the recent penny stock activity (eg Harvest with its suspension, designation and limit-down and SYF with its large cumulative 2 days’ price and percentage drop) as these stocks do not have any fundamentals and the companies are loss-making.

“Sell these stocks swiftly if their trends turn down violently,” he said.

On Bursa Malaysia, BAT fell 46 sen to RM46.54, Harvest Court lost 44 sen to RM1.05, MISC 12 aen to RM6.67, AIRB and Petronas Gas fell 10 sen each to RM1.49 and RM13.24, CIMB nine sen to RM6.97, HDBS seven sen to RM2.28 and Genting PLANTATION []s was down six sen to RM7.91.

Among the gainers, Kretam and Nestle added 28 sen each to RM2.50 and RM49.50, Amway 17 sen to RM9.21, Ekovest and TDM nine sen each to RM2.67 and RM3.37, Can-One and MAHB seven sen each to RM1.02 and RM6.19, KLK six sen to RM21.12, Kenanga 5.5 sen to 72 sen and REC Capital five sen to 51.5 sen.

Compugates was the most actively traded counter with 19.4 million shares done. The stock was unchanged at 8 sen.

Other actives included TMC Life, Tricubes, YGL, Sumatec, Asia EP, REC Capital and DPS Resources.



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