Market wrap: US stocks finished stronger on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve said the economy and job market continued to strengthen and left its key interest rate unchanged. - Reuters
The DJIA rose 0.69% to end at 17,751.39. The S&P 500 gained 0.73% to 2,108.57 and the Nasdaq added 0.44% to finish at 5,111.73.
Forex summary
*The local currency fell 0.01% to 3.8142 per US$
*It rose 0.78% to 4.1830 per euro
*Up 0.01% to 5.9504 to the pound sterling
*0.29% up to 2.7837 per Singapore dollar
*0.14% higher to 2.7854 per Aussie
*Down 0.02% to 3.0747 per 100 yen
Energy
Oil settled higher on Wednesday, recovering from multi-month lows, after US government data showed a surprisingly large crude stockpile draw that signalled the market may have been wrong in predicting slumping demand for energy. Brent LCOc1 settled up 8 cents, or 0.2%, at US$53.38 a barrel, after a session high at US$54.33. - Reuters
Top foreign news
Fed says economy improving; September rate hike in view: The US economy and job market continue to strengthen, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday, leaving the door open for a possible interest rate hike when central bank policymakers next meet in September. - Reuters
Facebook profit falls 9% as costs soar: Facebook Inc reported quarterly revenue that beat forecasts but its profit fell 9% as the social media company sharply increased spending to boost mobile revenue and future growth. Expenses will grow 55 to 60% in 2015 from last year, including an 82% jump in the second quarter to US$2.77bil, it added. - Reuters
Toshiba scandal puts focus on Japan's cut-price company audits: Toshiba Corp's years-long practice of inflating its profits has raised questions among accounting experts about whether low fees paid by Japan-listed companies to their auditors mean they do not spend enough time scrutinizing company accounts. - StarBiz
Tourism boom drives Japan to convert offices into hotels: Record tourists to Japan are stretching the ability of hotels to accommodate them in a sector constrained by high costs, forcing developers to think out of the box for means to quickly increase lodging options without breaking the bank. Japan is on target this year to beat the record 13.4 million visitors in 2014, helped by a weak yen and easier visa requirements for some Asian countries. The government is aiming to attract 20 million visitors by 2020, when Tokyo hosts the Olympics, to revitalise the world's third-biggest economy. - reuters
Top local stories
MBSB-Muamalat merger?: Malaysia Building Society Bhd
(MBSB), one of the non-conventional banks in the local financial industry, is on track to obtaining a full-fledged Islamic banking licence with plans under way for a merger with Bank Muamalat. - StarBiz
S. Korea's Hu-Chems to invest RM3.8bil in plant: South Korea-based Hu-Chems Fine Chemicals Corp is investing US$1bil (RM3.8bil) to build a manufacturing plant for chemical products in Bintulu, Sarawak. The company, subsidiary of Taekwang Industry Group, said the plant would be built on a 330,000 sq m site and produce up to 600,000 tonnes of ammonia, 400,000 tonnes of nitric acid, and 200,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate a year. - StarBiz
MoF sells stake in Bursa to KWAP: The Minister of Finance Inc (MoF Inc), the second largest shareholder in Bursa Malaysia Bhd, has disposed of its entire 16.12% stake in the securities and commodity exchange operator to Retirement Fund Inc effective July 29. - StarBiz
TA hangs on to brokerage: TA Enterprise Bhd does not intend to let go of the lucrative brokerage business. Managing director and chief executive officer Datin Alicia Tiah said , “the board feels that securities is worth the product line. It used to be a major contributor to the bottom line, about 80%, but now it’s only 20%. Even so, it is still profitable." - StarBiz
Hibiscus' 5th placement priced at 75 sen: Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd has fixed the issue price of the fifth tranche of its place- ment shares at 75 sen per share. The price represents a discount of 7 sen or about 8.54% to the five-day volume weighted average market price up to July 28. - StarBiz
Datasonic counts on card division: Datasonic Group Bhd’s card manufacturing division could be turning around as the company aims to triple its payment card production to 10 million this year. The surge in volume is in line with Bank Negara’s push for contactless debit cards under the payment cards reform that started early this year. - StarBiz
Nirvana ventures into Vietnam: Hong Kong-listed integrated deathcare service provider Nirvana Asia Ltd has entered into an agreement to acquire a peer in Vietnam. Nirvana said Vietnam would be sixth country in which it had a presence, adding to Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and China. It said the acquisition would further expand the group’s market coverage in Asia. - StarBiz
Xidelang to buy clothing maker: Xidelang Holdings Ltd is proposing to acquire the entire business of clothing manufacturer, JinJiang YangSen Garments Co Ltd. Xidelang said it would satisfy the acquisition via cash and issuance or allotment of new ordinary shares of 3 US cents (11 sen) each in Xidelang at an issue price of 22 sen per share. - StarBiz
Plan to stabilise commodity prices: The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry will discuss strategies with the private sector and interest groups to stabilise commodity prices. Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said meetings would be held beginning August to ensure commodity prices remained competitive in the international market. – Bernama
Events calendar
RBA governor Glenn Stevens gives a press conference as to how the RBA observes the current Australian economy and the value of the Australian dollar (0030 GMT).
The US Commerce Department releases the for second quarter. The index, which gauges the change in the prices of goods and services, is expected to stand at 1.5% (1230 GMT).
Japan's Statistics Bureau will announce the Tokyo consumer price index for July and the unemployment rate for June (2330 GMT).
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