FW: [Maybank IB] Today's Research - Malaysia

 

 

NEWS Outside Malaysia Other News NEWS Outside Malaysia: U.S: Single-family housing starts rise to highest in a decade. Ground-breaking on single-family homes proceeded in November at the strongest pace in a decade, driving U.S. housing starts to a faster-than-estimated rate, government figures showed. Residential starts rose 3.3% to 1.3m annualized rate after 1.26m pace in prior month (revised from 1.29m). Single-family starts jumped 5.3% to 930,000, highest since Sept. 2007. (Source: Bloomberg) Germany: Business optimism slips from high on economic nerves. German business confidence unexpectedly weakened in December, while remaining close to its record, in a sign of nerves over the outlook for Europe's largest economy. The Ifo Institute's gauge of business sentiment declined to 117.2 from a revised 117.6 the previous month. Ifo's gauge remains near the all-time high set last month, reflecting the fact that Germany's economy has excelled this year amid robust domestic spending and a recovery in global trade. The Bundesbank lifted its growth projections last week. Still, the slight setback signals that businesses may be starting to register concern over production constraints such as finding skilled workers. (Source: Bloomberg) U.K: Housing market projected to be lifeless in 2018, RICS says. U.K. house prices will stagnate next year, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Overall growth will come to a halt as the number of transactions falls slightly, RICS said in a report, with a continued dearth of supply preventing outright declines. Some regions are set to see gains, offsetting slumps in London and the southeast. Political and economic uncertainty, tax changes, a lack of stock, stretched affordability and the Bank of England's rate hike in November are all influencing factors, according to the report. "With several forces currently weighing on activity set to persist over the near term, it's difficult to envisage a material step-up in impetus during the next 12 months," said Tarrant Parsons, RICS economist. "Price growth may fade to produce a virtually flat outturn for 2018." (Source: Bloomberg) Other News: AirAsia X: Appoints new CFO. The company has appointed Wong Mee Yen as its chief financial officer with effect from Jan 1, replacing outgoing CFO Cheok Huei Shian, who had led the AAX finance team since February 2015. Cheok, who is leaving AAX to pursue personal interests, will stay with the company till the end of December to ensure a smooth transition. (Source: The Edge Financial Markets) Axiata: Subsidiary invested MYR9b in Sri Lanka. According to the company, through its subsidiary, Dialog Axiata PLC has invested over USD2.2b (MYR9b) in Sri Lanka. Axiata said Dialog had been a long term investor in Sri Lanka for over two decades and "have been making significant investments to spearhead the rapid development of the Sri Lankan telecommunications industry". It issued the statement to thank the governments of Sri Lanka and Malaysia for assisting to resolve the issue of Dialog's broadband network licence renewal, one of Dialog's five main business licences, for the best interest of Sri Lanka's telecommunications sector. It is understood that the renewal application for the company's service licence in Sri Lanka has been pending for 30 months since May 2015. (Source: The Star) Pestech: Bags USD26b job in Cambodia. The company said its wholly-owned Cambodian unit, Pestech Cambodia Ltd (PCL), has executed a contract agreement worth USD26m (MYR106.11m), to develop two substations and double-circuit transmission line in Cambodia. Under the deal, PCL will undertake to design, engineer, manufacture, install, test and commission the substations and transmission line. The transmission line and substation are expected to be completed in 18 months, while the Bek Chan substation should be completed in 24 months. (Source: The Edge Financial Markets) Disclaimer This email and its attachment(s) are confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Maybank Kim Eng or any of its affiliates. Intended recipients of this email are prohibited from disseminating, forwarding, printing and/or copying its contents. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are strictly prohibited to take any action based upon them, which also includes dissemination, forwarding, printing and copying of its contents. Maybank Kim Eng Research sent this e-mail to you because your Notification Preferences indicate that you want to receive information about our daily research reports. If you wish to read Disclaimer in details, please click HERE. To unsubscribe or change preference settings, please click here to contact your representative.