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NEWS
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Outside Malaysia:
U.S: Yellen calms fears Fed’s policy trigger finger is
getting itchy. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen sought to reassure
investors that the central bank’s latest interest-rate increase wasn’t a
paradigm shift to a trigger-happy policy driven by fears of faster
inflation. Speaking to reporters after the Fed’s quarter percentage-
point move, Yellen said the central bank was willing to tolerate
inflation temporarily overshooting its 2% goal and that it intended to
keep its policy accommodative for “some time.” “The simple message is the
economy’s doing well. We have confidence in the robustness of the economy
and its resilience to shocks,” she said. (Source: Bloomberg)
U.S: Chinese treasury holdings dip in January amid capital
flight, as the world’s second-largest economy used its foreign-exchange
reserves to support the yuan. Japan, America’s largest foreign creditor,
increased its holdings for the first month in six. A monthly Treasury
Department report released showed China held USD 1.05tr in U.S. government
bonds, notes and bills in January, down USD 7.3b from December. The
selling may be more severe than the data suggested, as the tally of
Belgium, where analysts say is home to Chinese custodial accounts,
dropped USD 8.2b to USD 112b, the lowest since August 2015. (Source:
Bloomberg)
S. Korea: Park leaves behind big problem of youth
unemployment. Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye left behind a
number of unsolved problems and one of the biggest is high youth
unemployment. The unadjusted unemployment rate in February for those aged
15-29 was 12.3%, compared with an overall seasonally adjusted jobless
rate of 4.0%, Statistics Korea said. Youth unemployment rose to a record
high last year despite the Park administration’s efforts to help more young
people secure jobs. In 2015, Park announced a plan to reduce youth
unemployment, and last year included KRW 1.9t (USD 1.7b) in a
supplementary budget to create new jobs and provide training for Korea’s
youth. (Source: Bloomberg)
Hong Kong: Raises base rate for third time since 2006
after Fed. Hong Kong’s de facto central bank raised its base rate for the
third time in a decade, following the Federal Reserve’s lead to maintain
the city’s currency peg to the dollar. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority
increased the borrowing cost by 25 basis points to 1.25%, according to
HKMA data, after the Fed elevated its target range by a quarter of a
percentage point. Under a linked exchange-rate system in place since
1983, Hong Kong must follow U.S. monetary policy. The city last boosted
its base rate in December 2016. (Source: Bloomberg)
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Other News:
MY EG SERVICES: To expand to the Philippines in first
overseas venture. MyEG is making its first overseas foray, forming a
partnership to develop and implement electronic government (e-government)
service projects in the Philippines. It had on Wednesday entered into a
JV agreement with I-Pay Commerce Ventures, Inc (IPCVI), a payment
processing provider and a direct agent of Western Union in the
Philippines. MyEG will have a 40% stake in the JV and will invest up to
USD2m (MYR8.9m) in three tranches subject to certain milestones being
achieved by the JV company. IPCVI will contribute USD400,000 (MYR1.8m).
(Source: The Star)
Malakoff: Unit Tanjung Bin Energy issues MYR800m sukuk.
Malakoff Corp’s subsidiary, Tanjung Bin Energy S/B, has issued MYR800m
sukuk wakalah to raise funds to redeem an outstanding junior term loan
for a turnkey contract with its parent company. The aggregate amount of
the loan from the contract established between the two parties on Feb 23,
2012 is MYR1.29b. The Sukuk Wakalah is backed by an unconditional and
irrevocable subordinated cash deficiency support from MCB (Malakoff)
under which MCB shall agree to pay such sums expressed to be from time to
time due and payable under the Sukuk Wakalah. (Source: The Sun Daily)
TSR Capital: Bags MYR120m job from ECER Development
Council. TSR Capital has landed a MYR119.74m contract to build a stretch
of road linked to Kuantan Port City, Pahang, as well as other related
works. Its unit TSR Bina S/B had on Wednesday received a letter of
acceptance from East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC)
to construct part of the Port Link Road plus a toll plaza, trumpet
interchange, and inner road and drainage diversion works under phase 2 of
the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park (MCKIP). T he project would
have a construction period of 130 weeks starting from the date of site
possession. (Source: The Star)
F&N: Launches MYR31.5m UHT line in Kuching. F&N
has launched a new MYR31.5m ultra-high temperature (UHT) processing line
at its plant in Kuching to meet growing demand in East Malaysia. The
first-of-its-kind UHT line in Sarawak, will allow the group to capture
increasing demand with an added capacity of 3.4m cases a year. The new
line is expected to offer the group an estimated annual savings of
MYR2.8m in logistics cost over the next decade. (Source: The Sun Daily)
Scomi: Teams up with solar firm to bid for contracts.
Scomi Group is teaming up with solar power firm Synergy Generated S/B to
bid for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts in the
renewable energy sector, particularly for photovoltaic solar farms. The
two groups will set up a JV company which it will have a 51% interest and
Synergy Generated the remaining 49%. Besides EPC solutions, the JV
company will also offer operation and maintenance services for solar
projects. (Source: The Edge Financial Daily)
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