The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 46.32 points, or 0.45 percent, at 10,387.01. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index .SPX added 7.03 points, or 0.64 percent, at 1,098.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC climbed 19.98 points, or 0.90 percent, at 2,228.87.

Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index dropped 0.13 points or 0.01% to closed at 1434.14 points on Wednesday, in line with the trend of regional markets.

TNB dropped 3 sen to RM8.95; CIMB dipped 5 sen to RM7.95; PLUS rose 2 sen to RM4.17 while Maybank slipped 1 sen to RM8.41.

Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, which is headed for a listing on the Main Market this year, made an after tax profit of RM2.59bil for its fiscal year ended March 31, 25% lower than the RM3.45bil posted a year ago after the cyclical nature of the industry, economic conditions and higher feedstock costs affected earnings.

Revenue was also lower at RM12.2bil against RM12.37bil while after tax profit margins were 21.3% compared with 27.9% for 2009.

The group, controlled by state oil firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) had total assets of RM26.89bil as at March 31.

The figures were part of the information revealed in Petronas Chemicals’ draft prospectus which was posted on the Securities Com-mission (SC) website yesterday.

Scomi Engineering Bhd is expecting greater revenue contribution from its overseas projects with the start of the Mumbai RM1.84bil monorail project.

President Syahrunizam Samsudin said overseas projects would be the main growth driver for the company as the local rail industry was small.

“We expect overseas projects, including projects from India, to contribute at least 80% to our future revenue,” he said at a media briefing during a plant visit yesterday.

Syahrunizam said the Mumbai project was a good test bed to showcase Malaysian expertise globally in an industry that was currently dominated by two major players – Bombardier of Canada and Hitachi of Japan.

The Philippine Stock Exchange added 29.45 points or 0.78 percent to close at 3,804.73, a new three-year peak.

With this seven-day run-up, the local index is now nearing its all-time high of 3,873.50 recorded on October 8, 2007.

“There’s euphoria in the market,” said Eagle Equities Inc. president Joseph Roxas. “When everyone is expecting the index to correct (downwards), it has refused to correct.”
Roxas said the market initially opened lower but strong buying on dips merely allowed the index to bounce fiercely to break past the 3,800 barrier.

The local equities market has thus defied an overnight pullback in Wall Street, which sent the closely watched Dow Jones Industrial Index lower by 107.24 points or 1.03 percent to 10,340.69.

Roxas said optimism on the local market was still being fueled by good local corporate earnings. Even as the index had fallen after hitting record highs in late 2007, he pointed out that corporate earnings have remained strong.

Since the start of this year, the PSEi has now rallied by 752.05 points or 25 percent to become one of the best performing markets in the world.

Wednesday’s rally was led by the mining/oil, financial and holding firm sectors whose counters respectively climbed by 2.21 percent, 2.12 percent and 1.88 percent, respectively. The property sector, however, was down by 1 percent on profit-taking while the services counter stood unchanged.

Value turnover was still heavy at P6.3 billion. Advancers overwhelmed decliners at a two-to-one ratio.

Investors loaded up on stocks of SM Investments Corp., Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., Megaworld Corp., Philippine National Bank, DMCI Holdings Inc., Aboitiz Power Corp., Filinvest Land Inc., Semirara Mining Corp., Energy Development Corp., Banco de Oro Unibank Inc., Alliance Global Group Inc., Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Bank of the Philippine Islands, SM Prime Holdings Inc., Philex Mining Corp., Ayala Corp. and International Container Terminal Services Inc.

On the other hand, telecom giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. fell on profit-taking. Ayala Land Inc. also led the property counter lower despite the gains eked out by other property firms.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.8% or 24.67 points to close at 3,011.42, after initially fallinas low as 3,002.65, as traders took their cue from fall of 1.03 percent on Wall Street Tuesday.

Gainers beat losers 255 to 196. Overall volume traded was 1.67 billion shares worth S$1.18 billion. The hardest hit were the blue chip companies.

On the Singapore Exchange, CapitaMalls Asia ended down 2.2% at S$2.20 as the malls developer gave up its sharp gains made in recent sessions after its recent joint acquisition with CapitaLand of Singapore’s Bedok Town Centre site.

Among banks, OCBC fell 2% to close at S$8.77 while DBS lost 1% to S$14.12 and UOB shed 0.2% to S$18.90.

Stocks of commodity firms also fell. Noble Group was down 1.8% to S$1.68, Golden Agri-Resources fell 0.9% to S$0.58, Wilmar International lost 0.5% to S$6.35.

Glencore International, the world’s largest commodities trader, has quietly acquired a $200 million stake in Bumi Resources, Indonesia’s largest coal producer.

Bakrie financial director Eddy Soeparno said Glencore had bought the stock since June. “We have an option to buy back the stake from Glencore within two years,” Soeparno said.
Based on Bumi’s average closing share price and the rupiah’s exchange rate, the deal may mean Glencore has about a 5 percent stake in Bumi.

Eddy said Glencore — a marketing agent for Bumi coal — saw Bumi shares appreciating.

Bumi director Dileep Srivastava confirmed on Wednesday that Glencore had been acquiring shares but would not say how many.

“Based on [Bumi’s] financial records released on June 30, no one company owns more than 5 percent of Bumi’s shares, except for Bakrie & Brothers, which owns 21 percent in several blocks,” he said.

Bakrie & Brothers is the holding company controlled by the family of Aburizal Bakrie, a business tycoon and politician.

Privately held Glencore has become a global marketing agent outside Japan for Kaltim Prima Coal, Bumi’s main coal mining unit.

Glencore supplies metals, minerals, oil products, coal and agricultural products to companies in more than 40 countries. Its sales turnover for the 2009 fiscal year was $106.4 billion, and its assets were $66.3 billion at the end of 2009.

Glencore spokesman Carlos Perezagua declined to comment.

A source at Bakrie & Brothers said the investment holding firm did not have enough cash to increase its stake in Bumi but also saw a potential upside for the miner’s shares.

Bumi stock has tumbled 29 percent this year, underperforming the Jakarta Composite Index’s 27 percent rise, because of concerns about corporate governance and high debt. Its forward PE ratio is 6.15, versus 10.36 for rival Adaro Energy.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index on Wednesday lost 0.01 point or 0.00 per cent to close at 923.88 points. The market value was 34.65 billion baht, with 5.17 billion shares traded.

Despite growing concerns about the strength of the baht, the dollar value of exports from Thailand is expected to increase by 22.9% this year, according to the Center for International Trade Studies at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC).

Aat Pisanwanich, the director of the centre, said its forecast called for growth in a range from 20.6% to 25.2% to between US$183.86 billion and $190.76 billion, or an average of 22.9% to $187.13 billion at the end of this year.

The figures represent a major upward revision from an earlier forecast of 10-15%, largely because of robust growth in the first half of the year.

For the first six months, Thai exports earned $93.07 billion, up 36.6% year-on-year, prompting the Commerce Ministry to raise its official target to at least 20% to $189.9 billion.
The centre forecast the growth rate for the second half would become slow to between 7.7% and 15.9% to a range of $90.8 billion and $97.7 billion.

Exports for the third quarter are expected to gain 17.6% to $48.3 billion and $45.9 billion in the fourth, up 6.3%

Siam Cement Group (SCG) and PTT Chemicals Plc (PTTCH) expect some of their suspended projects in Map Ta Phut will be operational within this year as most are not on the government’s list of harmful activities.

Cholanat Yanaranop, president of SCG Chemicals, said five or six of SCG’s 18 suspended projects in the industrial estate had completed construction and were ready to operate immediately once they receive operating permits.

The others could come onstream within the next year, he said, adding that the group was committed to completing health impact assessment (HIA) reports of all 18 halted projects.
“We are waiting for relevant government agencies to complete further processes required (after last Thursday’s court ruling). We cannot immediately start up production without permission,” Mr Cholanat said.

Veerasak Kositpaisal, president and chief executive of PTTCH, said most of the company’s seven suspended projects could start production within this year if state agencies confirm within the next week that the activities are not on the harmful list.

“We are going to finish HIA reports as fast as we can,” he said. “Only the projects that might fall into the harmful list would require us to go through all processes required under the 2007 constitution.”
Based on last week’s court ruling, the expansion of ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol by TOC Glycol, a subsidiary of PTTCH, is on the harmful list. Not on the list are other major projects including a high density polyethylene (HDPE) venture of PTTCH itself (50,000 tonnes a year), another by subsidiary Bangkok Polyethylene with capacity of 250,000 tonnes, and a venture to produce 50,000 tonnes of ethanolamine.

Despite the suspension of some projects, PTTCH can achieve its sales target of 100 billion baht this year. However, he noted that PTTCH would focus more on investment abroad, as half of its total sales now come from overseas. — Shayne Heffernan www.livetradingnews.com

Top five most active values were as follows;

PTT closed at 289.00 baht, down by 3.00 baht or 1.03 per cent.
KTB closed at 15.30 baht, up by 0.20 baht or 1.32 per cent.
ADVANC closed at 97.50 baht, up by 1.00 baht or 1.04 per cent.
PTTCH closed at 116.00 baht, up by 0.50 baht or 0.43 per cent.
TRUE closed at 7.45 baht, down by 0.25 baht or 3.25 per cent.

US stocks fell in very light volume on Tuesday as investors seized on renewed concerns about European banks as a reason to sell shares after strong gains last week.

Banks, energy companies and chipmakers were the biggest decliners. Some analysts said the drop after Wall Street’s best week in the past two months shows the market is likely to remain range-bound.

Singapore closed higher on Tuesday, with the benchmark Straits Times Index at 3,036.09, up 0.05 per cent, or 1.51 points.

About 1.31 billion shares exchanged hands.

Losers beat gainers 252 to 184.

China’s state-owned Sinochem Corp has invited Temasek, the Singapore sovereign wealth fund, to join a consortium that may bid for Canada’s Potash Corp.

China, which typically buys about 7 percent of the output of Potash Corp, fears a BHP takeover might jeopardize supplies it will require to feed its huge population in coming years.

Potash Corp shares on Tuesday rose $1.11 to $149.61 on the New York Stock Exchange, or 15 percent more than the BHP offer price, reflecting anticipation of a higher bid eventually.

Shares of BHP closed down 1.4 percent in London, partly on concerns that Australia’s new Labor government might impose a new resource tax on iron ore and coal miners.

SingTel Southeast Asia’s largest telecoms firm, is unlikely to bid for Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWP) as the company wants to focus on the Asia-Pacific region, Citigroup said on Tuesday.

“SingTel had clarified its preference to focus on acquisitions in the Asia Pacific region where it can build scale and drive revenue growth via penetration,” Citi analysts Arthur Pineda and Ravi Sarathy said in a note to clients after a meeting with the Singapore firm.

“This to us indicates that there is likely to be limited interest on the part of SingTel in acquiring C&W Worldwide, contrary to UK press reports.”

Shares of C&W rose to their highest level since a profit warning in July on Monday after a weekend report in the Independent on Sunday newspaper said the Singapore firm was considering a bid.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index on Tuesday lost 7.63 points or 0.82 per cent to close at 923.89 points. The market value was 48.84 billion baht, with 7.71 billion shares traded.

PTTAR, the country’s largest integrated aromatics refinery, expected its refining margin excluding any impact from oil stocks to stay at a high $5.0-5.5 a barrel in the second half, Chief Executive Chainoi Puankosom told reporters late on Monday.

“The economy should continue to do well in the second half, which should help boost demand,” Chainoi said, referring to economic growth in Asia, especially from China.

New refining output is entering global markets, but Chainoi said the impact should be compensated by the closure of some refineries in the Unites States and Europe, which should cut refining capacity there by 2 million barrels a day.

The gross integrated margin, which includes the petrochemical business, and refining profit margin are key indicators to gauge the profitability of companies in the oil and petrochemical sectors.

Top five most active values were as follows;

PTT closed at 292.00 baht, down by 10.00 or 3.31 per cent.
KTB closed at 15.10 baht, up by0.70 or 4.86 per cent.
PTTCH closed at 115.50 baht, up by1.00 or 0.87 per cent.
CPF closed at 24.20 baht, up by 1.00 or 4.31 per cent.
TMB remained at 2.56 baht.

Bond Issues expected by Reuters

SEPTEMBER

** Italian-Thai Development Pcl ITD.BK will sell bonds worth up to 2 billion baht in two tranches, with a three-year issue carrying a coupon of 5.50 percent and five-year bonds having a coupon of 6.25 percent.

The bonds would be offered to both institutional and retail investors between Sept. 13 and 15.

** Property Perfect Pcl PF.BK will sell bonds worth up to 1 billion baht ($32 million). The bonds will have a maturity of 1.5 years with a coupon of 5.50 percent and will be offered to investors between Sept. 6 and 8.
Q4 2010

** PTT Pcl (PTT.BK), Thailand’s largest energy firm, plans to raise up to 10 billion baht through bond issues in the fourth quarter of this year to refinance maturing debt.

– Pruksa Real Estate Pcl PS.BK, Thailand’s second-largest property developer by market value, expects to issue bonds worth up to 5 billion baht with maturities of 3-5 years in November.

– Banpu Pcl (BANP.BK), Thailand’s largest coal miner, plans to sell some of its planned bonds worth up to 20 billion baht ($636 million) this year to fund the purchase of Australia’s Centennial Coal Co Ltd (CEY.AX).

– Hemaraj Land and Development Pcl HEMR.BK plans to sell about 700 million baht ($22.3 million) by private placement later this year.

– PTT Chemical Pcl (PTTC.BK) plans to raise funds worth up to 3 billion baht ($96 million) this year by issuing bonds or loans to repay project investments.

TIMING TO BE DECIDED

– PTT Aromatics and Refining Pcl (PTTAR.BK) plans to sell up to $500 million of bonds in the five years to 2014.

– True Corporation Pcl TRUE.BK is to sell up to 30 billion baht ($954 million) of bonds with a maturity of up to 20 years. The proceeds from the bond issue will be used to repay debt and expand business. [ID:nWEN0629].

– Home developer Sansiri Pcl SIRI.BK plans to sell up to 3 billion baht ($96 million) of 10-year bonds in one or several tranches.

– Major Cineplex Group Pcl MAJO.BK is to sell up to 800 million baht ($25 million) in bonds for expansion and repaying short-term debt.

– Central Pattana Pcl CPN.BK plans to sell up to 5 billion baht ($159 million) of bonds with maturities of 10 years.

– Home developer Prinsiri PRIN.BK plans to sell 1 billion baht ($32 million) of bonds to finance expansion.

– Supalai SPAL.BK plans to sell up to 4.5 billion baht ($143 million) of bonds this year to finance expansion.

KLCI shed 0.41 points to 1,434.27.

Pacific & Orient Bhd (P&O) and Jerneh Asia Bhd climbed in Tuesday’ early trade, spurred by the recent announcements of their potential sale.

At 10.14am, P&O rose 11 sen to RM1.15 while Jerneh added six sen to RM3.16.

Last month, P&O confirmed that it received the central bank’s approval to begin preliminary negotiations for a proposed disposal of stake in its insurance unit to Britain’s Prudential Holdings Ltd.

Jerneh Asia announced in December last year that Bank Negara Malaysia had no objection in principle for it to commence talks with relevant parties for the disposal of an 80% stake in Jerneh Insurance Bhd. The remaining 20% is held by Paramount Corp Bhd.

Paramount Corp however dipped four sen to RM4.13.

Petronas has filed a draft prospectus for an initial public offering of its entire petrochemicals business, moving a step closer towards creating country’s second largest IPO after Maxis.

The draft prospectus on the Securities Commission website did not state how much Petronas Chemical Group is seeking to raise but banking sources have put the value of the firm at over US$2 billion (S$2.7 billion) Petronas Chemical Group’s IPO is one of two offerings to be launched by government-run Petronas in response to Prime Minister Najib Razak’s call to reduce state ownership in the private sector and boost liquidity in the stock market.

But according to the draft prospectus, Petronas will remain a controlling shareholder of the firm will 20 over business units. Under the terms of IPO, Petronas Chemical will buy a Malaysian port from Petronas in exchange for almost half of its authorised share capital of 15 billion shares.

That has raised investors concerns that the firm will remain an illiquid stock like many of the government-linked companies that make up more than half of the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained another 31.41 points or 0.84 percent to 3,775.42.

Foreign investors continued to make local stocks sizzle, contributing about P1 billion in net buying for the day. The index is now trading at its highest since closing at 3,788.26 on Nov. 7, 2007.

The PSEi has sustained its rally for six straight days, gaining a total of 216.75 points or 6.1 percent. With the six-day run-up, the local index is now nearing its all-time high of 3,873.50 recorded on Oct. 8, 2007.

The day’s gain was aided by the 4.7-percent rise of the property counter, which bounced back from the previous day’s profit-taking.
The financial sector was also buoyant on the back of gains eked out by major banking players while the industrial and mining/oil counters ended with slim gains.

On the other hand, the holding firms and services sectors fell on profit-taking.

Despite the overall gain that sent the index to a 34-month high, 63 advancers were edged out by 69 decliners while 39 stocks were unchanged. Many stocks are becoming more attractive to profit-taking after a six-day run-up.

Value turnover eased to P4.62 billion from the P5.87 billion turnout in the previous day.

Dealers said the market was still seeing some opportunity to load up on selective stocks but the temptation to pocket gains has been escalating given the six-day rally.

Banking stocks Metrobank, BPI and Banco de Oro alongside property giants Ayala Land and Megaworld Corp. led the day’s gains.
In a statement, the PSE said it continued “to undertake several initiatives to broaden the market’s breadth and depth including the introduction of new investment products and the successful roll-out of a new trading system last July.”

The JCI advanced 13.74 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,230.89, marking a third-straight day of record results. Some 5.2 billion shares worth Rp 3.7 trillion ($411 million) changed hands.

Gainers outnumbered decliners 111 to 74. Foreign investors poured $166 million into the market in the shortened week at the end of Ramadan.

The market will be closed today for the Idul Fitri holiday, reopening on Sept. 15.

The Jakarta bourse, Asia’s second-best performer this year, has racked up inflows of $1.62 billion this year, already topping $936 million in full-year 2009.

Among the biggest gainers, auto-distributor Astra International, rose 2.1 percent, and Bank Danamon Indonesia jumped 4.7 percent.
Media Nusantara Citra surged 24 percent to Rp 390, its biggest increase since June 2009. The TV broadcaster’s shares had lagged the JCI but caught up amid a rally in media stocks, said Arief Budiman, an analyst at Phillip Securities Indonesia.

Perusahaan Perkebunan London Sumatra Indonesia, the second-largest listed plantation firm by market value, gained 1.6 percent as palm oil futures rose 1.8 percent in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

United Tractors, the top heavy equipment seller, rose 1.3 percent after it was upgraded to “hold” from “sell” by Sucorinvest Central Gani, citing a lower country-risk premium for Indonesia.

The rupiah fell 0.3 percent to 9,018 per dollar in Jakarta, its first fall in three days, on speculation the central bank would intervene to curb volatility in the currency before the holidays.

The currency retreated from a two-week high after Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution said he wanted to avoid raising rates and as a slide in the euro bolstered demand for dollars.

“The central bank wants to maintain low volatility before the holidays,” said Aris Setiawan, of Bank Chinatrust Indonesia. “There were concerns about the euro declining.”

The currency has risen 4.1 percent this year, the third-best performer among Asia’s most-traded currencies excluding the yen.
The central bank held its benchmark interest rate at a record-low 6.5 percent on Friday to support growth. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono targets an average 6.6 percent annual economic growth through the end of his term in 2014. — Shayne Heffernan www.livetradingnews.com

The Jakarta Composite Index rose 42.13 points, or 1.4 percent, to 3,164.28, closing at a record high. The index gained 1.9 percent for the week.

Volume was strong, with 4.8 billion shares worth Rp 4.1 trillion ($455.1 million) changing hands. Gainers outnumbered decliners 119 to 67.

Adaro Energy, the country’s second-biggest coal producer, rose 2.8 percent, ending a six-day slide. The miner is currently in talks with Bhakti Energi Persada to buy a stake in the smaller rival, director Andre J Mamuaya said, confirming a news report on Friday by Kontan.

Indosat, the country’s second-biggest telephone company, jumped 7.1 percent, its biggest gain since Jan. 15, after the stock was upgraded to “hold” from “sell” by Deutsche Bank analyst Raymond Kosasih. Indosat said on Friday that it expected revenue growth of as much as 10 percent for 2010, while revenue for its cellular unit would rise up to 17 percent. The company also expects to have as many as 42 million subscribers by year-end.

Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam, the state-owned coal producer, rose 2.3 percent. The miner said it might increase coal supplies to state power utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara to 15 million tons next year from six million tons this year, said Nur Pamudji, PLN’s director of primary energy.

The rupiah had its biggest weekly gain since July as Bank Indonesia increased lender’s primary-reserve requirements after inflation climbed to a 16-month high in August.

The central bank on Friday kept borrowing costs unchanged while ordering lenders to set aside 8 percent of their deposits as primary reserves, up from 5 percent previously. A government report this week showed inflation accelerated to 6.4 percent last month from 6.22 percent in July.

“Indonesia’s economic picture is still intact,” said Enrico Tanuwidjaja, an economist at OSK-DMG Group in Singapore.

“Going for a more prudent measure instead of a rate hike for liquidity management means investors will not immediately” sell the nation’s assets, he added.

Increasing the reserve requirements “was already expected by the market,” said Dino Nunuhitu, vice president at Indo Premier Securities in Jakarta. “There won’t be selling of Indonesian assets by offshore investors.”

The rupiah climbed 0.4 percent this week, the most since the five-day period ended July 30, to 9,003 per dollar as of the stock market’s close in Jakarta on Friday. The currency was little changed on the day.

The currency has gained 4.2 percent this year, the third-best performance among Asia’s 10 most-actively traded currencies excluding the yen.

Overseas funds have pumped $1.6 billion into Indonesian stocks this year and raised holdings of debt by 66 percent to Rp 178.8 trillion as the benchmark interest rate of 6.5 percent, which compares with a maximum of 0.5 percent in the United States, Britain and Japan, gives the currency a yield advantage.

Bursa Malaysia closed Friday’s trading day lower as profit-taking dragged the benchmark index lower with Genting, Sime and UMW among the losers.

Asian markets closed higher while European markets gained at open as sentiments rose on more positive economic data from the US, China and India.

At 5pm, the local bourse’s FBM KLCI was 0.37% lower at 1,435.67 while Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained a quarter-percent to 2,993.99.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was 0.57% higher at 9,114.13, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added a half-percent to 20,971.50 and Shanghai’s A share index was flat at 2,655.39.

The broader local market saw relatively thin trading with 394 counters up, 325 down while 291 were unchanged.

There were 922.05 million shares done with a total turnover value of RM1.71 billion.

Genting shed 26 sen to RM9.22, Sime fell 14 sen to RM8.28 and UMW dropped 13 sen to RM6.75.

KNM was half-sen higher at 41.5 sen, Mudajaya jumped 53 sen to RM4.48 and Tan Chong gained 13 sen to RM5.09.

Supermax fell 13 sen to RM4.97 while Genting Plantations added 13 sen to RM7.45.

Nestle was up 12 sen to RM40.60 and Guinness gained 20 sen to RM8.30.

Nymex crude oil was down 30 cents to US$74.72 per barrel.

Crude palm oil for December delivery rose RM28 to RM2,570 per tonne.

The ringgit was quoted at 3.120 to the US dollar.

Abhisit Vejjajiva and Korn Chatikavanij have made Thailand the region’s best performing market and Asia’s second best this year with a 26.6 percent return.

It rose 1 percent on Friday to hit its highest since Dec. 2, 1996. A far cry from the Thaksin Shinawatra era that was bogged down under the weight of its own corruption.

SET index closed at 929.90, up 9.36 or 1.02% in trade worth 52.54 billion baht on Friday.

PTT (PTT), Thailand’s largest listed firm, which has $4.2 billion of projects on the Map Ta Phut estate, jumped 8.2 percent, while PTT Exploration and Production (PTTE) rose 2.5 percent.

PTT Chemical (PTTC) and PTT Aromatic PTTAE gained 3.4 percent and 6.8 percent respectively, while Thai Oil (TOP) jumped 6.9 percent.

BANPU increased to 634.00 baht, up 8.00 baht.

SCC increased to 313.00 baht, up 10.00 baht.

CPF decreased to 24.80 baht, down 0.45 baht.

Administrative Court has allowed 74 of 76 suspended projects at the country’s huge industrial park at Map Ta Phut to resume, ending a one-year standoff.

Only two industrial projects had their operating permit revoked: a debottlenecking project at PTT’s monoethylene glycol plant, which would have raised the capacity by 95,000 t/y to 395,000 t/y, and a planned 90,000 t/y expansion of Thai Plastic and Chemicals’ vinyl chloride monomer plant. Both projects must now undergo new environmental and health impact assessments before they can re-apply for a permit, which will delay the startup of the plants by 3–6 months.

My Stocks to watch next week are IVL, Banpu as they may see more gains, banks also in Thailand must rate a very strong buy.
Thailand remains on track to meet the 2009 estimates I made, possibly outperforming them,

Shayne Heffernan: Looking at Thailand for 2010 and Beyond

Background

The Kingdom of Thailand was established in the mid-14th century. Known as Siam until as recently as 1939, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power.The country remains firmly independent of external influences. A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to the formation of the current constitutional monarchy.

In September 2006, a Military Coup ousted then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The interim military government then held elections in December 2007 that saw the former pro-Thaksin People’s Power Party (PPP) emerge at the head of a coalition government. The anti-Thaksin People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in May 2008 began street demonstrations against the new government, eventually occupying the prime minister’s office in August. Clashes in October 2008 between PAD protesters blocking parliament and police resulted in the death of at least two people. The PAD occupied Bangkok’s international airports briefly, ending their protests in early December 2008 following a court ruling that dissolved the ruling PPP and two other coalition parties for election violations. The Democrat Party then formed a new coalition government and Abhisit Wetchachiwa became prime minister.

Thailand has a well-developed infrastructure, a free enterprise economy, and some generally pro-investment policies, Not surprisingly Thailand’s economy was one of East Asia’s best performers from 2002-04, averaging more than 6% annual real GDP growth. However, overall economic growth has fallen sharply in recent times – averaging 4.9% from 2005 to 2007 as persistent International reports of a political crisis eroded investor and consumer confidence, and damaged the country’s image unfairly. The growth rate fell to 2.6% in 2008. Exports remained the key economic driver as foreign investment and consumer demand stalled. Export growth from January 2005 to November 2008 averaged 17.5% annually. what has been called the 2008 global financial crisis further darkened Thailand’s economic horizon, we at Ebeling Heffernan identified this as the perfect opportunity for investment using the age old theory of buying low, selling high.

Moving Forward

Thailand has a population of some 66m people making it one of the 20 largest populations in the world and is within 2 hours flying time of 4 billion people. Thailand is strategically and economically placed to become one of the worlds great economies as China, India and the rest of Asia develop.

This is not a far distant dream, much of the change is currently underway, Thailand produced 1m cars this year and will produce 1.2m cars in 2010, mostly sold in regional markets. Thailand’s food and manufacturing industries are growing at double digit rates year on year.

AFTA is set to bring a whole new market in the coming year, the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is a trade bloc agreement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations supporting local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries.

The AFTA agreement was signed on 28 January 1992 in Singapore. When the AFTA agreement was originally signed, ASEAN had six members, namely, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Vietnam joined in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and Cambodia in 1999. AFTA now comprises ten countries of ASEAN. All the four latecomers were required to sign the AFTA agreement in order to join ASEAN, but were given longer time frames in which to meet AFTA’s tariff reduction obligations.
The primary goals of AFTA seek to:

Increase ASEAN’s competitive edge as a production base in the world market through the elimination, within ASEAN, of tariffs and non-tariff barriers; and Attract more foreign direct investment to ASEAN.

The primary mechanism for achieving the goals given above is the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme, which established a schedule for phased initiated in 1992 with the self-described goal to increase the “region’s competitive advantage as a production base geared for the world market”.

The countries in AFTA have a combined population of 1b people.

Export Growth

Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) Santi Vilassakdanont projected that the country’s exports would expand at least 10 per cent next year. Mr Santi said his projection was based on the country’s ability to expand its export markets in member countries of the Asean and in other countries who are Thailand’s trade partners under the free trade agreement (FTA) such as China and India.
Thailand’s gross domestic product should increase by at least three per cent next year, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij predicted on Thursday.

“The Thai economy has passed its lowest point and it is capable of expanding by four to five per cent in 2010,” Mr Korn said.

However, the fragile global economy and the country’s political uncertainty could impede growth and lower the confidence of investors next year.

“The government will continue launching new measures to bolster the economy continuously such as tax measures, the expansion of the third generation (3G) mobile broadband network and the establishment of a national savings fund.” he said.

Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) chairman Santi Vilassakdanont predicted the export sector would expand at least 10 per cent next year.

Mr Santi said his forecast was based on the country’s ability to expand its export markets in Asean member countries and other countries that are Thailand’s trade partners under the free trade agreement (FTA) such as China and India.

He said the recovering economies in the United States, the European Union and Japan were still fragile.

The FTI chairman pointed out that oil price fluctuations and foreign currency devaluation were two key risk factors for the export sector.
“If other countries devalue their respective currencies, Thailand should also consider devaluing the baht to maintain its competitiveness,” Mr Santi said.

He said the production capacity utilization in the industrial sector stood at about 60 per cent. The figure should increase to about 65 to 70 per cent next year due to the improvement in several industries, including automobiles, electronics and food industries.

The construction industry should also see substantial growth, thanks to the government’s Thai Khem Kaeng (Strong Thailand) stimulus scheme.

Thailand is an investment destination not to be overlooked.

Philippine Stock Exchange index surged by 1.86 percent or 68.2 points to close at 3,734.70. Value turnover was heavy at P7 billion.

The holding firms, mining/oil and property counters led the day’s gain, rising by over 2 percent.

There were nearly three gainers for every single decliner.

Overnight, the closely watched Dow Jones Industrial Index was up by another 50.63 points or 0.49 percent to 10,320.10 on broad-based buying.

Defying expectations of consolidation for this week, the local index rallied by nearly 5 percent this week. Since the start of the year, the index has gained by 682.02 points or about 22 percent. — Shayne Heffernan www.livetradingnews.com

Wall St stocks rose, adding to the biggest rally in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since July, and Treasuries fell as an unexpected jump in home sales and a drop in jobless claims tempered concern the economic rebound is weakening. Oil advanced for a second day.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1.1 percent, and the MSCI Emerging Market Index advanced 0.6 percent.

Tonight we will see US Jobs data which will keep ASEAN flat today, Nonfarm payroll employment in July declined 131,000 after falling a revised 221,000 in June and after a 432,000 boost in May. Of the July government plunge, 143,000 came from a drop in Census Bureau payrolls. State government fell 10,000 while local government dropped 38,000. Private nonfarm employment, which discounts the effects of hiring and firing temporary Census workers, accelerated moderately to a 71,000 increase, following a 31,000 gain in June. Average hourly earnings improved to up 0.2 percent, following no change in June. The average workweek for all workers rose to 34.2 hours from 34.1 hours in June. Turning to the household survey, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent in July. More recently, despite a dip this past week, initial jobless claims in August have been running higher than during July and this implies sluggish payroll and unemployment numbers. Employment indexes for the Philly and New York Fed manufacturing surveys were mixed as Empire rose while Philly slipped from positive to negative. Analysts will be tweaking their expectations with the ISM manufacturing and ADP reports just ahead of Friday’s employment situation.

Thai stocks ended flat on Thursday, erasing most of an early rise due to late selling in energy and petrochemical shares after a Thai court suspended some plants at the country’s top industrial estate. SET index closed at 920.54, up 1.20 or 0.13% in trade worth 47.81 billion baht on Thursday.

The court ruling, coming near the market close, involved the suspension of the operating licences of two projects at the Map Ta Phut industrial estate whose operations fell into categories of activities deemed harmful to the environment.

Confusion over the ruling was rampant and the selling was unjustified as only two of 76 plants involved would have their licences withdrawn.

The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has advised the government to propose a new telecom law to allow 100% foreign-owned companies in the Thai telecom market, reasoning it is the best way to prevent the use of nominees.

TDRI vice-president Somkiat Tangkitvanich said the new law should replace the Telecom Business Law that caps foreign holdings in a Thai telecom business at 49% under the Foreign Business Law.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) recently issued a regulation prohibiting activities that are tantamount to “foreign dominance” in the sector, but such regulations deterred foreign investors from competing in the 3G licence auction, he said.

He said such regulations must be in the public interest, according to the law.

The NTC did not clarify why it came out with such regulations, even while it held investor roadshows in 10 countries before the 3G auction.

Stocks with most active value were as follows:

BANPU increased to 626.00 baht, up 8.00 baht.
PTT decreased to 269.00 baht, down 2.00 baht.
KTB increased to 14.90 baht, up 0.30 baht.
SCC decreased to 303.00 baht, down 2.00 baht.
BBL increased to 150.50 baht, up 1.50 baht.

The Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.4 percent to 3,122.15 after posting its biggest gain in four weeks a day earlier. About 6.99 billion shares worth Rp 9.17 trillion ($1 billion) changed hands. Decliners outnumbered gainers 139 to 59.

“Many investors started profit-taking moves,” said Merdeka Goeryadi, an analyst from UOB Kay Hian Securities, adding that he expected the sell-off to continue today.

Ahmad Riyadi, an analyst at Millenium Danatama Securities, said that despite investors banking gains, the long-term bullish outlook remained intact, noting the relatively small decline over Wednesday’s close.

Asian stock markets rose on Thursday as investors hungry for good news seized on stronger US manufacturing as a sign the world economy wasn’t slowing as much as feared.

“I think the fear of recession subsided so people are looking at the bright side until the next set of economic data like unemployment,’’ said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong.

Emerging-market stocks are trading at the highest valuations relative to advanced-country shares in more than two years as faster economic growth persuades the biggest investors to look past historical sell signals.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is valued at 14.1 times reported profits and 1.9 times net assets, compared with ratios of 14.9 and 1.7, respectively, for the MSCI World Index, according to Bloomberg. When developing-nation equities last traded at these levels in June 2008, the emerging gauge sank 48 percent in four months and trailed the MSCI World index by 16 percentage points.

On the local market, Tunas Baru Lampung, an operator of pineapple, palm oil and coconut plantations, fell 1.4 percent after palm oil futures dropped for a second day as declining exports in Malaysia, the world’s second-largest producer, weighed on prices. Sampoerna Agro slipped 0.9 percent.

Palm oil futures for November delivery fell as much as 0.2 percent to 2,529 ringgit ($807) a ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, after slumping 1.4 percent on Wednesday.

Mining firm Indo Tambangraya Megah dropped 5.6 percent after Thai parent Banpu said it planned to raise $395 million selling an 8.7 percent stake in the company.

The rupiah dropped on concern the central bank would curb appreciation to protect exporters after the currency rallied on Wednesday by the most since June.

The rupiah also declined on speculation companies were buying dollars ahead of next week’s Idul Fitri holiday, according to Lindawati Susanto at Bank Resona Perdania. The central bank will set interest rates today, with economists predicting borrowing costs will be kept unchanged at 6.5 percent to support growth.

“The market thinks that Bank Indonesia may not be comfortable if the rupiah is too strong,” said Lindawati, head of foreign-exchange trading at the bank.

The rupiah slipped 0.2 percent to 9,013 per dollar as of the stock market’s close. The currency on Wednesday strengthened 0.6 percent, the most since June 21. It has gained 4.2 percent this year, the third-best performance among Asia’s most-traded currencies excluding the yen.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) rose 3.83 points to end at 2,986.66, after weaker US equity futures erased some gains earlier in the day.

Overall volume traded was 1.72 billion shares worth S$1.64 billion. In the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 271 to 185.
Strong US manufacturing data supported cyclical stocks with high exposure to China, with CapitaMalls Asia gaining 2.8% to S$2.17. Similarly, Noble Group rose 2.5% to S$1.65 and Neptune Orient Lines gained 0.5% to S$1.95.

Among the losers, gaming group Genting Singapore fell 2.2% to S$1.76 as investors booked gains on the stock’s recent rise.

KLCI rose 9.11 points to close at 1,441.07, with turnover at 1.075 billion shares worth RM1.87bil changing hands. Ahead of the announcement of the release of external trade data and overnight policy rate, there were 511 gainers, 256 losers and 258 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia.

Leading gainers were British American Tobacco up RM1.46 to RM46.96, Petronas Dagangan up 80 sen to RM11.60, Nestle up 38 sen to RM40.48, PPB Group up 30 sen to RM17.40, and APM Automotive up 24 sen to RM4.55.

Leasing losers were LPI Capital rights down 36 sen to RM4.76, DFZ Capital Bhd down 32 sen to RM3.67, LPI Capital down 22 sen to RM11.90, Disccomp down 21 sen to 24 sen and SP Setia down 18 sen to RM4.40.

Extending its gains for the third straight day, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index surged by 2.03 percent or 72.95 points to 3,666.54.

There were about three gainers for every one decliner at the stock market.

Value turnover was heavy at P6.79 billion.

The financial, mining/oil and holding firm counters led the day’s rally, respectively rising by 2.97 percent, 2.92 percent and 2.85 percent.
Sentiment was upbeat as soon as the market opened, allowing the index to break into a new high for the year. — Shayne Heffernan www.livetradingnews.com

This will lead to another day of gains in ASEAN markets, if you have been following the advice, today will be a great day for you.

Positive economic data favoured commodities stocks in Singapore, with Noble Group up 2.9% at S$1.61, Golden Agri-Resources 3.8% higher at S$0.58 and Olam International up 3.4% at S$2.76.

Gaming group Genting Singapore, which owns one of two licensed casino resorts in Singapore, led the STI higher, rising 6.5% to S$1.80. The stock has been bolstered in recent weeks by continued upgrades in analyst ratings on improved earnings forecasts.

Property developer City Developments rose 1.5% to S$11.10, clawing back some of its losses incurred on the government’s recent measures to curb property speculation. Hong Kong Land rose 1.7% to US$5.46.

Singapore Telecommunications was flat at S$3.08 as investors mulled increased competition in the broadband space after the launch of the country’s high-speed national broadband network. Rival telco StarHub rose 2.0% to S$2.51.

Singapore share prices ended 1.1 percent higher on Wednesday, in line with the broader rise in Asian stocks as upbeat economic data from China and Australia revived shaky equity markets and gave a boost to risk sentiment.

The key Straits Times Index gained 32.50 points to end at 2,982.83. Overall volume traded was 1.66 billion shares worth S$1.60 billion. In the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 323 to 134.

Data out on Wednesday showed Australia’s economy grew at the fastest pace in three years in the June quarter as households spent far more than expected while exports enjoyed an Asian-driven boom.

Other data showed Chinese manufacturing staged a moderate rebound in August, easing concerns about the pace of global growth that are based on weakness in the United States.
Singapore’s economy will likely expand at a record pace this year as a surge in demand for the city-state’s exports fuels manufacturing, according to a central bank survey of analysts.
The city-state’s gross domestic product will likely grow 14.9 percent this year, according to the median forecast of 20 economists in the quarterly survey, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said Wednesday.

In the previous survey in June, analysts had expected the economy would grow 9 percent this year.

Singapore’s economy – which relies on trade, finance and tourism – will likely be led this year by a 29 percent expansion of the manufacturing sector as non-oil exports soar 20 percent, according to the analysts.

The government boosted its 2010 growth forecast in July to a range of 13 percent to 15 percent after the economy expanded 18 percent in the first half from a year earlier.

The JCI rose 53.43 points, or 1.7 percent, to close at 3,135.37.

About 5.2 billion shares worth Rp 4.8 trillion changed hands. Gainers outnumbered decliners 139 to 59.

“The lower-than-expected inflation triggered investors to buy up interest-sensitive stocks like banking stocks and consumer goods stocks,” said Janson Nasrial, an analyst of Amcapital Indonesia.

“I am confident the JCI will hit 3,300 by the end of this year because inflation is still considered manageable, and our economic fundamentals are strong.”

The Central Statistics Agency reported that year-over-year inflation was 6.4 percent in August, below economists’ expectations of 6.7 percent.

Meanwhile, China’s manufacturing expanded at a faster pace in August and Australia’s economy grew faster than expected.

“Faster growth in Australia’s economy and China’s manufacturing are likely to support risk-taking sentiment,” said Yuji Saito, director of the foreign exchange department at Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank in Tokyo.

On the Jakarta bourse, finance stocks rose. Bank Mandiri, the country’s biggest lender by assets, increased 1.7 percent.

Mortgage provider Bank Tabungan Negara climbed 2.2 percent.

Its finance director, Saut Pardede, said the company planned to sell Rp 1.5 trillion to Rp 2 trillion of bonds in the second quarter of next year to expand and improve the funding structure. He said lending could grow 27 percent in 2011.

Indofood Sukses Makmur, the nation’s biggest maker of instant noodles, slid 1.1 percent, while Unilever Indonesia advanced 0.9 percent.

Telekomunikasi Indonesia, the country’s biggest telecommunications provider, jumped 4.1 percent, its first gain in four days.

The rise followed a report by the Boston Consulting Group that the number of Internet users in Brazil, Russia, India, China and Indonesia would double to 1.2 billion by 2015, fueling growth at media companies and phone carriers.

Semen Gresik, the nation’s biggest cement-maker, increased 1.2 percent to Rp 8,800, the steepest climb since Aug. 19.

The stock was rated “buy” by BNP Paribas analyst Helmy Kristanto, who said the company would likely be the “main beneficiary” of growing development on Indonesia’s outer islands. Kristanto has a 12-month share-price estimate of Rp 10,150 for the stock.

The rupiah advanced the most in nearly three weeks on speculation the central bank will tolerate appreciation to curb the cost of imported goods, and on optimism overseas investors will buy more of the nation’s assets as trade with the rest of the world grows.

The rupiah climbed 0.4 percent to 9,000 per dollar. The currency strengthened as much as 0.6 percent, the most since Aug. 13.

The rupiah has risen 4.2 percent this year, the third-best performance among Asia’s most-traded currencies, excluding the yen.

The IPO by PT Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur, Indofood’s instant noodle and seasonings division, would be Indonesia’s largest in two years after Adaro Energy (ADRO.JK) raised $1.3 billion in 2008.

Indofood CBP set the price range for bookbuilding at 4,300 rupiah to 5,500 rupiah per share, said Harry Zen, a director at Credit Suisse Indonesia, one of the underwriters, giving a prospective 2011 price-earnings multiple of 15-19 times and a market cap of between $2.8 billion to $3.5 billion.

Indofood CBP will sell up to 1.166 billion new shares in the IPO, representing 20 percent of the enlarged share capital. It said 70-80 percent of the funds raised from the IPO would be used to repay debt and the rest for capital expenditure.

Indofood CBP will be competing with several other firms for investor funds, including IPOs by state-owned national carrier Garuda Indonesia and steel giant Krakatau Steel, which between them hope to raise a combined $800 million, while Bank Mandiri’s (BMRI.JK) rights issue could raise as much as $1.55 billion.

Coal miner Bumi Resources (BUMI.JK) plans to spin off its non-coal mining assets, while U.S. miner Newmont Corp (NEM.N) is considering listing its local unit.

Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has seen a steady pick up in investor interest over the past 18 months, thanks to a combination of political stability and improving economic growth.
Strong domestic consumption and demand for the country’s abundant commodities, ranging from coal to palm oil has also boosted foreign direct investment and appetite for Indonesian bills and bonds, lifting the rupiah.

The G20 member is expected to win an investment grade credit rating in the next year or two and is increasingly talked about as the up-and-coming emerging market, set to join the elite BRIC club consisting of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

SET index closed at 919.34, up 6.15 or 0.67% in trade worth 49.07 billion baht on Wednesday.

Top energy firm PTT (PTT.BK) gained 1.1 percent and rose to 269 baht amid hopes the national environment board would announce the list of hazardous projects later in the day, which may enable several key industrial projects, including PTT’s suspended sixth gas separation plant, to start up later this year, analysts said.

The country’s largest olefins maker, PTT Chemical PTTC.BK, was up 0.9 percent at 107.5 baht on expectations its ethylene product volume would rise along with more feedstock from its parent PTT’s sixth gas separation plant, they said. Other operators of halted projects were also expected to benefit from the approval of the list, including industrial conglomerate Siam Cement SCC.BK, which was up 2.2 percent at 274 baht.

Thai Union TUF the world’s largest canned tuna maker rose 7.5 percent to 61.25 baht, at one point climbing to an all-time high of 61.5 baht, as its plan to buy French-based MW Brands Holding SAS boosted earnings outlook and share price target.

Stocks with most active value were as follows:

PTT increased to 271.00 baht, up 6.00 baht.
KTB increased to 14.60 baht, up 0.20 baht.
TMB decreased to 2.66 baht, down 0.04 baht.
SCC increased to 305.00 baht, up 9.00 baht.
BANPU increased to 618.00 baht, up 6.00 baht

Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed at 1431.96 points on Wednesday, added 9.47 points or 0.67%.

DiGi dropped 8 sen to RM24.66; CIMB closed unchanged at RM7.80; IOI rose 5 sen to RM5.30 and Maybank jumped 10 sen to RM8.49 The ringgit was quoted at 3.1302 to the US dollar.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) has chalked up gains of more than 3% in the past two weeks compared with Japan’s Nikkei 225 which lost 3.55%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng which shed 2.7% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index which is down 0.87%. — Shayne Heffernan www.livetradingnews.com

At the close, the Bursa Malaysia benchmark index rose 11.44 points, or 0.8% to 1,422.49 points – the highest since February 2008.
In total, 17 out of the top 30 stocks that made up the FBM KLCI advanced, while 13 counters declined.

Overall market breadth was also mixed, with 377 losing stocks leading 334 gainers.

The broader FBM Emas index rose 0.7% to 9,482 points, but the FBM SmallCap index declined 0.3% to 11,141 points.

Shares in Genting jumped 41 sen, or 4.5% to RM9.45 on volume of 16.68 million shares.

Genting attracted strong attention from foreign investors following the stellar performance of its Singapore unit, and it is likely that the counter will breach the RM10.00 mark soon.

Genting closed 41 sen higher at RM9.45.

Maybank, the country’s largest lender, continued to surge as investors reacted positively to its financial results. It ended 1.57 per cent or 13 sen higher at RM8.39.

Sime Darby added 25 sen, or 3% to RM8.35 with 12.66 million shares transacted as the stock extended its unbeaten run to third day in a row.

Meanwhile, the ringgit snapped out of two-day losing streak to close 0.2% higher at 3.1379 against the US dollar.

In the commodity market, crude plam oil (CPO) futures rose RM18, or 0.7% to RM2,560 a tonne ahead of teh closing bell, while crude oil in New York was little change at US$74.78 a barrel in Asian trading.

The local market will be closed tomorrow for National Day holiday.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index on Monday gained 9.28 points or 1.03 per cent to close at 909.65 points. The market value was 40.12 billion baht, with 10.70 billion shares traded.

Top five most active values were as follows;

TMB closed at 2.62 baht, up by 0.06 or 2.34 per cent.
KTB closed at 13.20 baht, up by 0.30 or 2.33% per cent.
DTAC closed at 48.75 baht, down by 0.75 or 1.52 per cent.
SSI closed at 2.00 baht, down by 0.06 or 2.91 per cent.
BTS closed at 0.90 baht, up by 0.01 or 1.12 per cent.

Exchange News

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) announces that the selection criteria for SET50 and SET100 indices is amended in terms of the size screening rule from using their past 12 months record to 3 months of average daily market capitalization.

To ensure that the SET50 Index and SET100 Index mostly reflect the market value, SET revises the selection criteria for stocks in SET50 and SET100 with the main issues regarding to the size selection. From the previous rule, the size of eligible stocks is screened from the last 12 months of market capitalization; however, the new rule will draw only last 3-month record to represent the most recent and reasonable market size of the constituents, Ms. Kesara Manchusree, SET Group Head, Markets Division, said .

Due to the volatility of stock market, the 12-month historical period of data has not represented the current market size of the securities. The criteria is only adjusted the period of historical market capitalization data while others remain unchanged. The amendment will help reduce the gap between data variation and the most updated status of the company. Moreover, the shorter historical period of market capitalization is applied in accordance with other international index providers as well as some market comments. Besides, the SET50 and SET100 indices will be more attractive and efficient to use as benchmarks. The revision will be effective on the first half of 2011 periodic review onward. The SET will announce the list of components selected under the new criteria in December 2010, and every six months thereafter.

Thai Fund

The Thai Capital Fund, Inc. (the “Fund”)  , a closed-end management investment company seeking long-term capital appreciation through investment primarily in equity securities of Thai companies, today announced its results for the quarter ended June 30, 2010 and commented on the economic outlook for Thailand.

The Fund’s investments in Thailand are made through a wholly owned investment plan (the “Investment Plan”) established under an agreement between SCB Asset Management Co., Limited (”SCBAM”), the Fund’s investment manager, and the Fund. The Fund’s investments through the Investment Plan are managed by SCBAM, located in Bangkok, Thailand. Daiwa SB Investments (Singapore) Limited, the Fund’s investment adviser, provides SCBAM with advice regarding investments through the Investment Plan and manages the Fund’s assets held outside the Investment Plan.

Second Quarter Earnings Results

For the quarter ended June 30, 2010, the Fund earned net investment income of U.S. $506,000 (equivalent to income of U.S. $0.16 per share), resulting in net investment income for the six months ended June 30, 2010 of approximately U.S. $628,000 (equivalent to income of U.S. $0.20 per share). Net realized and unrealized gains from investment activities and foreign currency transactions for the quarter ended June 30, 2010 were approximately U.S. $506,000 (equivalent to a gain of U.S. $0.16 per share). As a result, the net realized and unrealized gains for the six months ended June 30, 2010 were approximately U.S. $4,241,000 (equivalent to a gain of U.S. $1.34 per share).

In comparison, for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, the Fund earned net investment income of U.S. $326,000 (equivalent to income of U.S. $0.10 per share), resulting in net investment income for the six months ended June 30, 2009 of approximately U.S. $392,000 (equivalent to income of U.S. $0.12 per share). Net realized and unrealized gains from investment activities and foreign currency transactions for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 were approximately U.S. $8,444,000 (equivalent to a gain of U.S. $2.67 per share). As a result, the net realized and unrealized gains for the six months ended June 30, 2009 were approximately U.S. $7,469,000 (equivalent to a gain of U.S. $2.36 per share).

On June 30, 2010, the total net assets of the Fund were approximately U.S. $41.7 million. The net asset value (”NAV”) per share on that date was U.S. $13.16, based on 3,172,313 shares outstanding. In comparison, on June 30, 2009, total net assets were approximately U.S. $31.1 million. The NAV per share on that date was U.S. $9.80, based on 3,167,316 shares outstanding. The Fund generated an investment return of 13.25% for the six months ended June 30, 2010, when measured against the NAV per share of U.S. $11.62 calculated on December 31, 2009. In comparison, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (”SET”) Index increased 11.64% during the same period, in U.S. dollar terms.

As of June 30, 2010, the Fund had 96.34% of its net assets invested in Thai equities and 5.81% in Thai cash instruments. The remaining assets were made up of 0.69% in short-term U.S. dollar time deposits and liabilities in excess of other assets of (2.84)%.
As of August 26, 2010, the Fund had total net assets of approximately U.S. $48.9 million, equivalent to a NAV per share of U.S. $15.42. On that same date, the Fund’s shares on the NYSE Amex closed at U.S. $12.90, representing a trading discount of 16.34% to its NAV per share.

The key Straits Times Index gained 18.32 points to close at 2,957.06. Overall volume traded was 1.38 billion shares. In the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 255 to 188.

But weakness in domestic property stocks tempered gains in the broader market, after Singapore government’s new curbs on property market speculation weighed on local property developers.

Among the property stocks, Allgreen Properties tumbled 7.0% to S$1.06, CapitaLand gave up 0.5% to end at S$3.98 and City Developments shed 4.2% to S$11.46.

The JCI slid 5.2 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 3,099.57, the second day of losses. About 5.3 billion shares worth Rp 3.2 trillion ($355 million) changing hands. Decliners outnumbered gainers by 97 to 87.

Finance stocks took a hit, with Bank Mandiri, the country’s biggest lender by assets, falling 1.7 percent, and Bank Bukopin down 2.8 percent. Telekomunikasi Indonesia, the nation’s largest telecommunications company, dropped 0.6 percent.

The rupiah posted its biggest gain in two weeks on optimism that global funds would lift buying of Indonesian assets after the Fed indicated it was willing to do more to lift the US economy.

Energy stocks gained as crude oil prices rose. Medco Energi Internasional, the country’s biggest listed oil company, gained 1.6 percent. Energi Mega Persada advanced 1.1 percent.

Crude oil for October delivery rose 2.5 percent to $75.17 a barrel on Friday, posting its best weekly gain since July 23. The contract was at $74.70 in after-hours trading in New York.

Bumi Resources, Asia’s largest exporter of power-station coal, rose 1.2 percent. Director Dileep Srivastava said the miner planned to cut debt by $800 million in the fourth quarter and refinance “immediate maturities.”

Indofood Sukses Makmur, the nation’s biggest maker of instant noodles, jumped 5.5 percent to Rp 4,825, a record close, after it was raised to “overweight” by Morgan Stanley, which cited a shift in profitability at its consumer-branded products business.

Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, an analyst at Danareksa Research Institute, said the upcoming holiday season had prompted some investors to bank gains.

“The drop is short-term. There’s no need to be concerned about Indonesian stocks because the economy has strong fundamentals,” he said.

The rupiah climbed 0.3 percent, the most since Aug. 13, to 9,016 per dollar as of the stock market’s close.

US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday that the central bank “will do all that it can” to ensure a continuation of the US economic recovery.”

The US bought more than 10 percent of all goods shipped out of Indonesia in the first half of the year, according to central bank data.

“The sentiment on equities is buoyant after Bernanke’s comments downplayed concerns of an economic recovery,” said Joanna Tan, a regional economist at Forecast Singapore. “The rupiah is consolidating very well.”

The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of regional shares rose 1.2 percent, the highest gain in four weeks, on the Fed’s announcement.

“The US will very likely introduce additional stimulus measures to prevent a double-dip for its economy,” said Wei Wei, an analyst at West China Securities. “To some extent, that will alleviate lingering concern about a faltering global economic recovery.”

According to economists’ estimates, annualized inflation in Indonesia rose to 6.7 percent in August from a year earlier, after gaining 6.22 percent the month before.

The inflation report is due today. Bank Indonesia is expected to keep its key rate at 6.5 percent when it meets of Friday, a separate survey said.

“We are seeing consumer prices under pressure in the month of Ramadan,” Tan said. “The central bank may hike the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points before the end of the year.”

The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan will end next week. — Shayne Heffernan www.livetradingnews.com

Malaysia, the week’s best performer, ended the week 1.15 percent higher, against last week’s gain of 2.56 percent. The FBM KLCI rose 0.22% to close at 1411.05 points on selected buying of SIME and Public Bank.

The strong buy from Shayne Heffernan on Genting Bhd has managed to provide investors with fast returns as the company posted a whopping 244.6% jump in net profit for its second quarter ended June 30 to RM739.2mil compared with RM214.5mil in the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue stood at RM4.1bil compared with RM2.1bil previously.

Genting said in a statement that the increase came mainly from its leisure and hospitality division following the commencement of Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) in Singapore.

It said the improved revenue from RWS was largely due to better luck in the premium players business, which also contributed to improved profit.

Genting said its casino in Britain benefited from an increase in business volume but the weaker pound sterling translated into lower casino revenue in ringgit terms.

It said revenue and profit from Genting Plantations Bhd was higher in the quarter as a result of better palm product prices and improved fresh fruit bunches production.

However, its power energy division Genting Energy Ltd recorded a lower revenue due to lesser generation of electricity by its Meizhou Wan plant in China.

Genting’s oil and gas division also posted a drop in revenue and profit due to lower share of entitlement in China.

The company said, overall, its better performance in the quarter was due to share of results in jointly controlled entities and associates.
For the six months ended June 30, Genting posted a 124% increase in net profit to RM971.6mil compared with RM427.6mil in the corresponding period a year ago.

Revenue jumped 71.4% to RM7.2bil from RM4.2bil before.

The company said it was cautiously optimistic about its prospects as regional competition continues.

“While business has been resilient, the management will continue to closely monitor the competitive environment and intensify its plans to meet growing competition.”

Genting also said that with the opening of Marina Bay Sands, RWS’s business had showed resilience and its business model had displayed impressive strength.

“RWS continues to be optimistic with its business model for the rest of the year,” it said.

It added that the resort hosted a series of high-profile entertainment events and promotions and would continue to fill the rest of its year-long calendar with activities to encourage fresh and repeat visitations.

It said RWS would continue to improve its attractions, facilities and infrastructure to meet guest expectations. Construction of the West Zone has started and it is expected to commence operations next year.

Genting also said the performance of its power division was expected to be impacted by the Meizhou Wan plant, which was experiencing lower-than-expected tariff increases and reduced generation hours.

The performance of its plantation division remains satisfactory.

Genting has declared a gross interim dividend of 3.3 sen per ordinary share of 10 sen each, less 25% tax, for the first half of 2010.
This represents a 10% increase compared with 3 sen per ordinary share of 10 sen each, less 25% tax, in the first half of last year.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) ended the morning session higher today, as the market recouped early losses.

The benchmark index was mostly in red in the morning trading session before advancing marginally higher.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI added 0.99 points to 1,408.99 after opening 3.63 points lower at 1,404.37 points.

Losers led gainers 364 to 204 while 220 counters were unchanged. Turnover stood at 360.2 million shares worth RM657.8mil.

On Bursa Malaysia, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd topped the gainers’ list, appreciating 26 sen to RM45.10.

Other gainers included Lay Hong Bhd, Padini Holdings Bhd and Sime Darby Bhd.

Among banks, CIMB Group fell 1 sen to RM7.72, Public Bank Bhd added 12 sen to RM12.14 while and Maybank were 5 sen higher at RM8.27.

Leading the list of heavily-traded counters was Time DotCom Bhd, which fell 1.5 sen to 49.5 sen on a volume of 31.9 million shares done.
Dealers said market was expected to see downside pressure after the overnight slide on Wall Street.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 74.25 points to 9,985.81, below the psychological 10,000 level as investors shrugged off better US jobs data and braced for a sharp revision of US economic growth to be announced tonight.

F&N Subsidiary To Buy 23.1% Stake In Cocoaland For RM54.6m

Singapore closed up 0.44 percent, or 12.87 points, at 2,938.74.

Singapore Airlines fell 1.55 percent to 15.20, while Olam International rose 6.77 percent to 2.68.

Fraser and Neave (F&N)’s Bursa-listed subsidiary is buying a 23.1% stake in Cocoaland Holdings Berhad (CHB) for RM54.6m ($23.6m), in a bid to strengthen its food products portfolio. CHB, a Bursa-listed investment holding company whose units manufacture and distribute processed and preserved foods, fruit juices and other foodstuff, is Malaysia’s sole coco pie producer. A leading gummies manufacturer in the Asean region, CHB also exports to 50 countries. ‘Along with our investments in soft drinks, beer and dairies, this will give us a solid platform to realise our growth ambitions,’ said F&N Food and Beverage chief executive Koh Poh Tiong.

Ying Li Acquires Chongqing Site For Rmb697m

Ying Li International Real Estate has acquired a commercial development site in China’s Chongqing city for Rmb697m ($139.5m). It added in a separate announcement that it has obtained credit facilities of up to US$200m from Standard Chartered Bank (China). The money will be used to make site acquisitions and develop projects, it said. The 102,483 square feet commercial site it bought will be developed into 968,752 sq ft of grade A office space and 430,556 sq ft of high-end retail space. The gross floor area will be about 1.7m sq ft. The site is in the Jiefangbei central business district and is part of the Chongqing municipal government’s Rmb600b plan to redevelop the city centre to make Chongqing CBD a financial hub. The project is expected to be completed by end-2013.

Eu Yan Sang’s Earnings Jump 47%; Proposes 1-For-5 Bonus Issue

Eu Yan Sang International posted a 47% yoy increase in its FY10 net profit to $19.2m, boosted in part by a $1.17m fair value gain on investment properties and a $331,000 revaluation gain on property, plant and equipment. Revenue increased 10%, mainly attributable to the increase in retail sales in all 3 core markets. Segmentally, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) retail segment saw revenue rise 13% to $197.6m, while the TCM wholesale segment saw revenue fall 5% to $31m because of lower exports to China due to a license renewal issue. Revenue from clinics was flat at $14.3m. At the end of FY10, Eu Yan Sang had a retail presence of 165 stores and 21 clinics, having recently launched a medical centre in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the company has declared a dividend of 2.5 cents – comprising a final dividend of one cent and a special dividend of 1.5 cents. It has also proposed a 1-for-5 bonus issue.

Singapore-based Olam International’s takeover play for dairy farm developer NZ Farming Systems Uruguay got a boost yesterday as a rival overseas bidder pulled out.

Olam this week raised its bid from 55c to 70c a share, valuing the NZX-listed company at $171 million.

The increased offer is too hot for Uruguay-based Union Agriculture Group which – before Olam raised its bid – had given notice it intended to make a 60c-a-share offer.

Union Agriculture had intended to launch its formal offer next week but decided against making a bid higher than Olam’s offer.

Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 36.91 points or about one percent to 3,558.67.

Dealers said the correction was expected as the index had risen sharply last week, halted only by jitters over a bloody hostage-taking incident in Manila this week.

Week on week, the index has also fallen by nearly one percent, a turnaround from the five-day run-up that allowed it to climb 3.58 percent last week.

The holding firms, property and industrial sectors took the worst beating as their respective counters fell 2.72 percent, 1.78 percent and 1.24 percent.

The mining/oil sector was the only counter that defied the downtrend, rising 1.83 percent as investors loaded up on stocks of Philex, whose share price surged 7.4 percent to P10.74.

The market was dragged down by profit-taking on PLDT, DMCI Holdings, PNB, EDC, Megaworld, BPI, SM Investments and JG Summit.
Aside from Philex, local banking giant Banco de Oro closed in positive territory, its share price rising 1.76 percent to P52.10.
There was only one gainer for every three decliners. Value turnover amounted to P4.6 billion.

Overnight, the Dow shed 74.25 points or 0.74 percent to 9,985.81, falling below the 10,000-mark for the first time since July 6.
Traders in Jakarta caused a late sell off on the exchange expecting the USA GDP to come in under 1.4%, the number beat estimates coming in at 1.6% which will lift Jkarta stocks Monday.

The Jakarta Composite Index suffered its steepest loss since Aug. 3, tumbling 40.4 points, or 1.3 percent, to 3,104.73. About 6.1 billion shares worth Rp 4.3 trillion ($477 million) changed hands. Decliners outnumbered gainers 147 to 52.

In local stocks, rallying big-cap stocks retreated, with state-owned Telekomunikasi Indonesia and Bank Rakyat Indonesia each sliding more than 2 percent.

The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) recorded outflows of $31 million on the session, erasing $27.4 million of combined inflows over the four past days, according to Reuters data.

Among other decliners, Bumi Resources dropped 5.1 percent, while Bakrie Sumatera Plantation fell 3.5 percent.

Bank Mandiri, Indonesia’s biggest lender by assets, fell 1.7 percent, while Bank Rakyat Indonesia, the second-largest, declined 2.6 percent.

Domestic banks had their recommendation lowered to “underweight” from “neutral” by JPMorgan Chase, citing a decline in profitability.
Indofood Sukses Makmur, the country’s top instant noodle maker, advanced 1.7 percent to Rp 4,575. The company’s instant noodle unit said its parent planned to sell a 20 percent stake in the subsidiary through an initial public offering next month.

Holcim Indonesia, the country’s third-biggest cement maker, fell 4.3 percent after Citigroup rated the company a “sell” in new coverage, saying a lot of the good news on potential market share gains may be already priced into the stock.

The rupiah declined the most in two weeks as economists predicted the central bank would leave borrowing costs unchanged amid accelerating inflation.

The rupiah fell 0.3 percent, the most since Aug. 12, to 9,018 against the dollar as of 4:04 p.m. in Jakarta, according to Bloomberg. The currency dropped 0.4 percent on the week.

According to economists’s estimates, the nation’s inflation rose to an annualized 6.7 percent in August from a year earlier, after surging to 6.22 percent the month before. The inflation report is due on Wednesday.

A separate survey forecast that Bank Indonesia would keep its key rate at 6.5 percent later next week, despite central bank Deputy Governor Hartadi Sarwono warning of persistently high inflation.

Apratim Chakravarty, the Jakarta-based head of global markets at HSBC, said the situation would keep the rupiah in check. “From Bank Indonesia’s perspective, they don’t want volatility in the currency, so they won’t want any untoward strength.”

SET index closed at 900.37, up 14.27 or 1.61% in trade worth 43.60 billion baht on Friday.

Stocks with most active value were as follows:

PTTEP decreased to 141.00 baht, down 1.00 baht.
TMB increased to 2.56 baht, up 0.14 baht.
JAS increased to 1.60 baht, up 0.06 baht.
CPF increased to 26.00 baht, up 0.75 baht.
PTT was unchanged at 258.00 baht.

Ford Motor Company and Mazda Motor Corporation are investing US$350 million in their 50:50 joint venture in Thailand to support the production of the next generation of pickup trucks.

The investment in the plant of AutoAlliance Thailand (AAT) in Rayong will enable production of the new Mazda and Ford compact pickups to start in mid-2011.

The companies said the investment would support facility upgrades and supplier tooling. It would lift Ford and Mazda’s total joint investment in AAT to $1.85 billion since it began in 1995.

“The new investment marks another important step forward in AAT’s development as a manufacturing hub,” said Toshinori Kusuhashi, the president of AutoAlliance Thailand.

The government will oversee the value of baht to prevent it fluctuating too much, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Friday afternoon.

“Relevant state agencies will introduce needed measures to stabilise the value of the Thai currency, but will not act against the money market’s mechanism. We have already experienced an expensive lesson from doing so in the past,” said Mr Abhisit.

The prime minister said the Bank of Thailand must oversee the baht’s value and interest rates to ensure they stay at appropriate levels and in line with the changing situation. Any decision to adjust the policy rate must be made carefully as the central bank is also duty-bound to curb inflation.

He had discussed the economic situation with the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board and believed the current inflation rate is controllable. Inflation is unlikely to be higher than the current level.

Mr Abhisit said even though the economy would grow at a slower pace in the second half of the year, the growth rate could be higher than seven per cent this year. He projected economic expansion would slow down to four to five per cent next year.

“Thailand is still very under held by international investors,” Korn told investors in Singapore today. “By most measurements, Thailand remains one of the cheapest stock markets in the region so the only reason why investors were shying away from Thailand must be because of their concerns related to the political instability.”

The Thai equities rally, which surpassed the 20 percent threshold for a bull market in early August, has accelerated as tension eased since deadly street protests claimed 89 lives in April and May, and the Cabinet lifted emergency rule in 17 provinces. Southeast Asia’s largest economy after Indonesia grew 9.1 percent in the second quarter as exports countered the impact of the political unrest.

Shayne Heffernan www.livetradingnews.com

In Malaysia the Index rose 0.8 percent to its highest since Feb. 21, 2008

Supermax Corp Bhd recorded a 77.8% jump in net profit to RM45.9mil for the second quarter ended June 30 versus RM25.8mil in the same quarter last year due to strong global demand for rubber gloves, higher selling prices and cost savings.

Revenue rose 24.6% to RM234.8mil for the period as compared with RM188.5mil last year.

For the six months ended June 30 net profit surged 114% to RM97.3mil as against RM45.5mil in the same period of 2009.

Revenue rose 19.6% to RM455.5mil in the first six months of the year versus RM380.9mil in the previous year.

Supermax declared a dividend of 2.5 sen per share for the second quarter.

Fraser and Neave Holdings Bhd (F&N) has announced that it is proposing to acquire 39.6 million shares or a 23.08% stake in Cocoaland Holdings Bhd for RM54.6mil or RM1.38 per share cash.

F&N chief executive officer Datuk Ng Jui Sia said in a statement that the stake in Cocoaland – the group’s first in a food manufacturer – provides it with a strategic and synergistic foothold to advance its aspirations to create a regional, world-class food and beverage enterprise.

“We are excited with the creation of a new food platform via this agreement and will work in tandem with our partners to leverage our various marketing and distribution strengths and capabilities to mutually develop our equity in the growing and exciting food and beverage sector.

“Our investments in soft drinks and dairies to-date have given us a solid platform to realise our regional ambitions, and the combination of the capabilities within the Cocoaland Group will complement and significantly boost our food and beverage credentials and maximise shareholder value,” he added.

Both F&N and Cocoaland shares have been suspended today pending the announcement.

Cocoaland added 11 sen to RM2.87 while F&N fell eight sen to RM14.46 yesterday.

Listed plantation companies which released their quarterly results yesterday generally posted stronger performances buoyed by higher average selling prices of crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK) as well as higher sales volume.

Genting Bhd unit Genting Plantations Bhd saw net profit increasing to RM71.4mil for its second quarter ended June 30 from RM59mil in the previous quarter.
Revenue for the quarter under review firmed RM231.2mil on the back of RM95.6mil in pre-tax profit.

The group attributed the stronger performance to higher prices of palm products, an increase in fresh fruit bunches (FFB) production and gain on dilution of shareholdings in a subsidiary.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index went up 1.59 points or 0.18% to close at 886.10 points at the end of trading session on Thursday afternoon. The trade value was 32.40 billion baht.

Top five most active values were as follows;

TMB closed at 2.42 baht, up 0.04 baht (1.68%)
JAS closed at 1.54 baht, down 0.10 baht (6.10%)
ITD closed at 3.42 baht, up 0.22 baht (6.88%)
PTT closed at 258.00 baht, up 1.00 baht (0.39%)
THCOM closed at 8.45 baht, up 0.55 baht (6.96%)

The increase in the repurchasing rate by another 0.25 percentage points would not have much impact on the export sector, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said on Thursday afternoon.

The Bank of Thailand’s Monetary Policy Committee yesterday decided to increase the key policy rate from 1.50 per cent to 1.75 per cent.

Mr Korn admitted that the increase in the key policy rate would result in the baht’s further appreciation, but said the Thai currency’s current value is in line with foreign currencies of other Asian countries.

The minister was confident that a stronger baht would not hurt the trade competitiveness of Thai manufacturers.

The Thailand Exhibition and Convention Bureau (TCEB) has launched its Believe in Thailand campaign to rebuild confidence in the country as a business events destination.
“With the launch of this new campaign, we want to inform potential business travellers to Thailand and reassure all MICE players, organisations and businesses,” said Akapol Sorasuchart, president, TCEB. “Bangkok and Thailand are back to normal. There has never been a better time to hold a business event in Thailand.”

TCEB has also hosted a number of familiarisation trips since the end of the domestic conflict in May in an effort to show meeting and event planners first-hand the resumption of business.

“The objective of this road show and global campaign is to reignite the interest and confidence in Thailand,” added Sorasuchart. “Thailand is a country that has developed a thriving business travel industry through the superior service, professionalism and friendliness of the Thai people.

“This has not changed and we are positive that Thailand will continue to be an attractive destination for MICE events.” Phuket is the first destination to show signs of recovery, hosting a steady stream of events during the past three months.

However, the continued State of Emergency has kept in place automatic travel advisory warnings in several countries, meaning many delegations cannot be covered by insurance when travelling to Thailand, despite attractive rates, financial incentives and their willingness to do so.

Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 41.58 points, or 1.17 percent, to 3,595.58. Yesterday’s trading had been extended due to a glitch in the system that briefly interrupted the session.

The market closed at 12:40 p.m. instead of 12:10 p.m. Trading was halted at 9:44 a.m. and resumed at 10:33 a.m.

Trading volume was slightly lower at P3.8 billion compared to the previous day’s average of over P4 billion partly due to the interruption.

There were 101 advancers against 40 decliners, while 28 stocks were unchanged.

The upbeat local sentiment was also supported by a slim gain eked out by US stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Index was up by 19.61 points, or 0.2 percent.

The mining/oil, property, holding firms and industrial counters benefited most from the run-up.

Investors snapped up shares of DMCI Holdings Inc., Universal Robina Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc., Philex Mining Corp., Energy Development Corp., Megaworld Corp., Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., Ayala Land Inc., Semirara Mining Corp., Filinvest Land Inc., First Philippine Holdings Corp., Aboitiz Power Corp., Bank of the Philippine Islands

The JCI rose 6.2 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 3,145.14. Volume was heavy, with 8.43 billion shares worth Rp 5.31 trillion ($589.4 million) changing hands. Gainers outnumbered decliners 114 to 81.

“While the global economic recovery is very slow, Indonesian growth has been robust and valuations are cheaper at around 13 times,” said one Jakarta-based analyst. “So there is strong foreign as well as domestic demand for Indonesian stocks.”

However, momentum in recent days has faded, and some analysts warned of profit-taking in the near term, especially in light of uncertainty over the global economic recovery.
“We should keep our eyes on the [market], because investors might want to do profit-taking simultaneously, which could lead to a big decline,” said Saiful Adrian, an analyst at Ciptadana Securities.

Indofood Sukses Makmur, the country’s biggest instant noodle maker, advanced 3.5 percent, its steepest gain since July.

State-owned coal producer Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam surged 7.5 percent. Bukit Asam allocated Rp 3.9 trillion to buy two coal mines in Kalimantan, Investor Daily reported on Thursday, citing its corporate secretary Achmad Sudarto. The company expects to complete the purchases this year, the news report said.

On Wednesday, Adani Global, the Indonesian unit of Indian conglomerate Adani Group, announced it would invest $1.6 billion in a railway project for a coal mine site in South Sumatra in cooperation with Bukit Asam.

Coal miner Bumi Resources, a unit of the Bakrie group, declined 2.7 percent.

State-owned construction company Wijaya Karya gained 1.7 percent after reporting that its first-half net income rose 51 percent from a year earlier to Rp 140.76 billion.
The rupiah has traded within a 0.2 percent range all of this week on speculation the central bank will hold the currency at current levels to support exporters and contain inflation. Bank Indonesia is “comfortable” with the rupiah’s present level as it is acceptable to exporters who compete on price terms in global markets, said Muhammad Fauzi Halim, a foreign-exchange trader at Bank Resona Perdania.

“Bank Indonesia thinks it is very safe for the rupiah to trade below 9,000,” he said.

The rupiah was at 8,990 per dollar as of the stock market’s close, compared with 8,983 on Wednesday. The currency reached 8,905 on Aug. 3, its strongest level since June 2007.
Benchmark government bonds fell, pushing yields up by the most in a week, before the government is set to report inflation data on Wednesday. According to economists in a Bloomberg survey, consumer prices rose 6.7 percent in August from a year earlier, after climbing to 6.2 percent in July.

Bond “investors are waiting for the inflation figures,” said Dino Nunuhitu, vice president at Indo Premier Securities in Jakarta. — Shayne Heffernan www.livetradingnews.com

Wall St is sitting at critical levels at the close and this may prompt speculative selling in ASEAN today.

Dow Jones 10,040.45  -133.96  (-1.32%)
S&P 500     1,051.87  -15.49  (-1.45%)
Nasdaq      2,123.76  -35.87  (-1.66%)

Singapore shares rose 0.61 percent on Tuesday, outperforming regional bourses like Hong Kong, as the benchmark index got a boost from Southeast Asia’s largest telcom firm Singapore Telecommunications (STEL).

By the midday break the Straits Times Index (STI) .FTSTI was up 17.91 points at 2,943.90. More than 129.3 million shares had changed hands.

SingTel’s shares rose 2 percent to S$3.00 as investors shrugged off previous concerns that a potential weakness in the Australian dollar resulting from Australia’s political stalemate will hit its bottom line.

SingTel’s Australian subsidiary, SingTel Optus, accounted for about 19 percent of its bottom line for the fiscal year ended March 31, although it made up 64 percent of its revenue.
Shipbuilders like Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (YAZG) and Cosco Corporation (COSC) outperformed the broader index, as Cosco secured new contracts and Yangzijiang said it would buy a site in China that can be used to expand its yard.

Cosco Pacific Ltd, Asia’s third- largest container-terminal operator, said profit in the first-half rose 82 per cent on recovering world trade and the sale of a stake in a logistics venture.
Net income rose to US$189.9 million (US$1 = RM3.14), or 7.96 cents a share, from US$104.5 million, or 4.66 cents, a year earlier, the terminal operator said in a statement to Hong Kong’s stock exchange yesterday.

The firm made an US$84.7 million gain from selling its stake in Cosco Logistics Co to its parent.

Shares of Yangzijiang rose as much as 2.6 percent on Tuesday to S$1.55, while Cosco rose 1.9 percent to S$1.58.

Kuala Lumpur Bursa malaysia KLCI reached a fresh 30-month high yesterday – after rising for the seventh consecutive day for a cumulative gain of 53.8-point or 4%.
There were 206 counters up, 585 down and 241 remained unchanged with total market volume of 894.4 million shares.

Among the top three gainers were LAYHONG that added 53 sen to RM1.72, FIMACOR gained 38 sen to RM4.83 and GENTING climbed by 18 sen to RM8.90.
For the heavyweights, Maybank shed 2 sen to RM8.12, CIMB shed 1 sen at RM7.9 and Sime Darby gained 4 sen to RM7.87.

Bank Negara’s recent foreign exchange (forex) liberalisation measures coupled with China allowing yuan-ringgit trade will gradually reduce the dependency on the US dollar and enhance trade financing efficiency, experts said.

AmBank Group treasury and markets managing director Teng Chean Choy said as China and Asean were now the country’s largest and second largest trading partners, the central bank’s move should prompt the pricing of exports and imports in Asian currencies, including the ringgit, and over time reduce dependence on the US dollar.

While analysts approve of AirAsia Bhd’s move to pay dividends, they expect the dividend payout will not be significant yet.

The budget carrier, which has been listed since 2004, do not have a dividend policy. However, the group is now considering to pay dividend to its shareholders.

The Jakarta Composite Index opened lower and set yet another new high of 3,145.11 in early afternoon trading before a sell-off in the final two hours.

The Jakarta Composite Index only fell 13.79 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,114.94. About 5.5 billion shares worth Rp 4 trillion ($448.4 million) changed hands.

Decliners outnumbered gainers 116 to 77.

Among decliners were state-owned gold miner Aneka Tambang, which dropped 2.4 percent, and Astra International, the nation’s largest car retailer, which fell 1.5 percent.

Bank Bukopin shares gained the most in four months after Bisnis Indonesia reported that state social security provider Jaminan Sosial Tenaga Kerja (Jamsostek) may buy more than 30 percent of the lender, higher than initially targeted.

Bukopin surged 12.5 percent to close at Rp 720.

Bank Rakyat Indonesia, which recently announced its intention to take a majority stake in Bukopin, advanced 2.6 percent to close at Rp 9,800 per share.
Indofood Sukses Makmur, the country’s biggest maker of noodles and flour, advanced 2.4 percent to close at Rp 4,325.

Meanwhile, the rupiah slipped 0.7 percent to 8,986 per US dollar as of the local market’s close.

Other Asian currencies declined, led by the Philippine peso and South Korean won, on speculation that faltering economic growth in the United States and Europe would crimp demand for regional exports and slow down local expansion.

“Although Asia’s growth is strong, it’s economies are largely driven by export and a slowdown of economies in export destinations is negative for the region,” said Minoru Shioiri, chief manager of foreign-exchange trading at Tokyo-based Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, a unit of Japan’s largest financial group by market value.
“The environment is not encouraging investors to take risks.”

Still, HSBC Holdings in a report said investors should buy the rupiah, Malaysia’s ringgit and Philippine peso as relatively high yields attract inflows into the nations’ bond markets.
The three currencies may strengthen by 2 percent to 5.5 percent by the end of the year, according to the research report published this week.
Rupiah-denominated bonds have returned 17.3 percent this year, according to HSBC.

Overseas holdings of government bonds were Rp 177.2 trillion as of Aug. 16, an increase of 64 percent from the end of 2009, according to the Finance Ministry’s Web site.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index on Tuesday lost 4.33 points or 0.48 per cent to close at 890.45 points. The market value was 38.40 billion baht, with 13.13 billion shares traded.

Top five most active values were as follows;

TMB closed at 2.30 baht, up by 0.08 baht or 3.60 per cent.
JAS closed at 1.74 baht, up by 0.19 baht or 12.26 per cent.
PTT closed at 258.00 baht, down by 6.00 baht or 2.27 per cent.
PTTEP closed at 143.50 baht, down by 4.50 baht or 3.04 per cent.
CK closed at 7.80 baht, down by 0.05 baht or 0.64 per cent.

Top energy firm PTT (PTT) gained 1.1 percent and rose to 269 baht amid hopes the national environment board would announce the list of hazardous projects later in the day, which may enable several key industrial projects, including PTT’s suspended sixth gas separation plant, to start up later this year, analysts said.

The country’s largest olefins maker, PTT Chemical PTTC.BK, was up 0.9 percent at 107.5 baht on expectations its ethylene product volume would rise along with more feedstock from its parent PTT’s sixth gas separation plant, they said. Other operators of halted projects were also expected to benefit from the approval of the list, including industrial conglomerate Siam Cement SCC, which was up 2.2 percent at274 baht.

TUF The world’s largest canned tuna maker rose 7.5 percent to 61.25 baht, at one point climbing to an all-time high of 61.5 baht, as its plan to buy French-based MW Brands Holding SAS boosted earnings outlook and share price target. — Shayne Heffernan www.livetradingnews.com

At Bursa Malaysia, 291 counters were up, 465 were down while 270 remained unchanged. There were 805.1 million shares done at a total value of RM1.34 billion. The index ended higher for the day adding 8.13 points to 1,403.15.

Among the heavyweights, CIMB jumped 22 sen to RM7.92, Genting added 11 sen to RM8.72 and PPB rose 40 sen to RM17.36.

Axiata rose 3 sen to RM4.38, Genting Malaysia added 5 sen to RM3.14 and Sime Darby gained 2 sen to RM7.83. Most Asian markets ended the day lower.
Shanghai’s A share Index slipped 0.11% to 2,639.37 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.68% to 9,116.69.

Singapore Straits Times Index lost 0.36% to 2,925.99 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.44% to 20,889.01.
Nymex crude oil was 13 cents higher at US$73.95 per barrel.

Crude palm oil third-month futures was RM17 higher at RM2,561 per tonne.

The ringgit was quoted at 3.1320 to the US dollar.

vProton Holdings Bhd recorded better earnings for the first quarter ended June 30 (Q1) year-on-year due to higher sales and better product mix.

The national car maker’s net profit surged 55.2% to RM84.7mil in Q1 versus RM54.5mil in the same quarter last year. Revenue rose 23.6% to RM2.29bil against RM1.85mil.

Proton said in a filing to the stock exchange that in line with the improved market sentiments, its domestic sales volume grew 17% due to demand for its three core models – Saga, Persona and Exora.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index on Monday gained 0.86 point or 0.10 per cent to close at 894.78 points. The market value was 35.16 billion baht, with 10.76 billion shares traded.

Top five most active values were as follows;

PTT closed at 264.00 baht, down by 2.00 baht or 0.75 per cent.
JAS closed at 1.55 baht, up by 0.09 baht or 6.16 per cent.
SCC closed at 272.00 baht, up by 4.00 baht or 1.49 per cent.
SAMART closed at 9.65 baht, up by 0.30 baht or 3.21 per cent.
TMB closed at 2.22 baht, up by 0.06 baht or 2.78 per cent.

The National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) yesterday reported the economy expanded 9.1% in the second quarter from the same period last year, with strong export growth cushioning the negative impact of the political violence in April and May on the economy.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Thailand’s gross domestic product rose 0.2% in the second quarter from the first quarter, down from a 3.3% rise quarter-on-quarter for the period from January to March.

The NESDB, which had previously maintained a 3.5% to 4.5% full-year growth forecast, said the economy rose 10.6% overall in the first half from the same period last year.

The Economy of Thailand grew 9.1 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2010 as strong exports cushioned the blow from violent street protests that hit the key tourism sector, data showed on Monday.

The strong performance was seen as raising the odds of Thailand’s central bank increasing interest rates again when it meets later this week, following its first hike in almost two years in July. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded for a third straight quarter compared with a year earlier, but at a slower pace than the breakneck growth of 12.0 per cent seen in January-March, a government agency said.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, GDP expanded 0.2 per cent in April-June from the previous quarter, after a 3.3 per cent rise in January-March, according to the National Economic and Social Development Board. The Thai economy has remained relatively resilient following two months of mass opposition protests, which paralysed parts of Bangkok and sparked violence that left 91 people dead, ending in a bloody army crackdown in May.

The better-than-expected second-quarter result was largely thanks to robust overseas demand for Thai-made goods, such as cars. The country is striving to become a regional hub for automobile production, with foreign makers such as Toyota operating factories in the kingdom. Exports soared 41.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2010 in dollar terms, on the back of a global economic recovery, the figures showed.

Household spending expanded by a robust 6.5 per cent as consumers splurged on cars and electrical goods. But growth in the hotel and restaurant industry slowed to just 0.2 per cent as the political unrest scared off foreign tourists.

Speculation is now growing that the Bank of Thailand may lift official borrowing costs for a second straight month when policymakers meet on Wednesday. In July the central bank raised interest rates for the first time since 2008 – by 25 basis points to 1.5 per cent – saying that the economic impact of the ‘Red Shirt’ anti-government protests had been relatively limited.

Shares in Singapore closed lower on Monday, with the benchmark Straits Times Index at 2,925.99, down 0.36 per cent, or 10.49 points.

About 1.34 billion shares exchanged hands.

Losers beat gainers 280 to 164.

Deutsche Bank, said on Monday it had launched an alternative stock trading platform known as a ‘dark pool’ in Hong Kong as part of its drive to grow in Asia.

A ‘dark pool’ exchange allows clients to trade financial instruments without their operations being displayed publicly, which advocates say saves costs and reduces price volatility.

Critics say the off-exchange trading systems reduce transparency, but they have gained significant ground in the United States and Europe and have spread to Asia as well.

Deutsche Bank said it would extend the operation, which it calls an Automated Trading System, to other Asian countries owing to growing demand for the service.

The bank’s operation aims ‘to give our clients the liquidity they need in today’s volatile markets,’ a statement quoted Deutsche Bank equity executive Mark Davis as saying.

‘Dark pools’ first emerged in the United States in 1990, and as their numbers grow, several companies are working to link platforms in various countries

Wilmar announced the acquisition of a Singapore sugar trading company, Windsor & Brook Trading Pte. Ltd. and Indonesian sugar refiner PT Jawamanis Rafinasi.

Olam will invest US$12 million equity in a Special Economic Zone development project in Gabon for a 60% stake in a Joint Venture with the local government.

Capitaland’s Ascott REIT has acquired S$1.39 billon portfolio of Asia and Europe properties from Ascott Ltd.

In the Philipines the market rallied past the 3,600 level today as investors continue to pick on the blue chips.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index today rallied by 0.54 percent or 19.76 points to finish at its highest level of 3,613.37 this year. The broader all-share index went up by 0.77 percent or 17.42 points to 2,279.48.

While the gains was mostly across the board during the early part of the session, three of the six counters, namely financials, industrial and mining and oil, took a breather and ended in the negative.

Most issues also finished lower. A total of 70 issues declined, 60 that advanced and the 38 stocks that were unchanged.

Overall, interest in the local equities remains vibrant as shown by the 1.39 billion shares worth P4.96 billion ($110.27 million) that changed hands.

“Share prices rallied (today) and closed at levels not seen since December of 2007. The local equities market relentlessly went up again as investors stayed bullish despite the technically overbought state of the market,” AB Capital Securities, Inc. said.

The brokerage noted that market participants have been ignoring technical indicators as projections of the macro economic and corporate earnings are been upgraded. Moreover, both investors and consumer confidence are reaching fresh highs.

Today’s rally was mostly brought about by blue chip buying. Investors bought relatively cheap industry leaders like heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., conglomerates Ayala Corp. and SM Investment Corp.; and property developer Ayala Land Inc.

The said issues have been lagging behind but not for long as investors are bullish on the local economy’s prospects. But in the coming sessions, the market’s momentum should slowly lose some steam to set it up for a modest technical correction,” AB Capital Securities said.

Year-to-date, the Philippine market went up by as much as 18.36 percent and the way stocks are moving appears the market is headed towards breaking the 20 percent-mark before it succumbs to selling pressure, according to Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp.

“A general rise in optimism across all demographics may be the underlying motive force supporting the rise in equities,” he said.

For those who are waiting for the equities to correct before positioning again, AB Capital Securities said their chance might be coming soon since indicators are already pointing to a correction. — Shayne Heffernan www.livetradingnews.com