Market wrap: US stocks finished sharply higher on Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average re-emerging in positive territory for the year, after eurozone leaders reached a tentative deal to bail out Greece. - Reuters
The DJIA rose 217.27 points, or 1.22%, to end at 17,977.68. The S&P 500 gained 22.98 points, or 1.11%, to 2,099.6 and the Nasdaq added 73.82 points, or 1.48%, to 5,071.51.
Energy
Oil fell more than 1% on Monday after the United States kept alive hopes of reaching a nuclear deal with Tehran that could bring hundreds of millions of additional barrels of crude into an oversupplied market. A nearly 4% drop in gasoline prices also weighed on crude, as the fuel continued to lend direction to the broader oil market due to the ongoing peak US summer driving season. Brent futures, the global benchmark for crude, settled down 88 cents, or 1.5%, at US$57.85 a barrel. - Reuters
Forex summary
*The local currency slid 0.24% to 3.8030 per US$
*It rose 0.16% to 4.2096 per euro
*Down 0.72% to 5.9065 to the pound sterling
*0.02% up to 2.8099 per Singapore dollar
*0.15% higher to 2.8231 per Aussie
*Up 0.09% to 3.0782 per 100 yen.
Top foreign stories
Greek PM Tspiras faces party revolt over bailout deal: Greece's leftwing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faces a showdown with rebels in his own party today furious at his capitulation to German demands for one of the most sweeping austerity packages ever demanded of a euro zone government. Just hours after a deal that saw Greece surrender much of its sovereignty to outside supervision in return for agreeing to talks on an 86 billion euro ($95 billion) bailout, doubts were already emerging about whether Tsipras would be able to hold his government together. - Reuters
US firms expected to report worst sales fall in nearly six years: US companies are expected to report their worst sales decline in nearly six years when they post second-quarter results, giving investors reason to worry about future profits. Companies have managed to drive 2015 earnings by cutting costs, a practice they turned to during the financial crisis. They have also used share buybacks to lift earnings per share. But it is hard to make a case for sustained earnings growth given forecasts for a second-straight quarter of revenue decline at S&P 500 companies, which begin reporting financial results in earnest this week. - Reuters
Xiaomi success inspires every man and his dog to make smartphones in China: The call of the world's biggest smartphone market is proving irresistible for entrepreneurs in China, where even purveyors of concrete mixers, refrigerators and rock music are mimicking local trailblazer Xiaomi Inc with their own handsets. - Reuters
Stock market rout another blow to fading 'Chinese Dream': The "Chinese Dream" of rising prosperity and security championed by President Xi Jinping was anticipated to be reflected in capital markets, creating "huge" investment opportunities. But the stock market turmoil in the last month has shattered that particular dream for many small-time players, though the risk of contagion from a relatively narrow class of retail investors who dominate Chinese equities appears small for now. - Reuters
Top local stories
Bursa enhances ACE Market rules: In a move to provide greater clarity on listing requirements for the ACE Market, the stock exchange said that companies that were loss-making or showing low profitability could still get listed if they displayed certain qualitative characteristics. In a presentation to the media, Bursa Malaysia chief regulatory officer Selvarany Rasiah explained that loss-making or companies with low profitability could be approved to list if they were an innovative company in IT or research and development, had taken steps to improve their financial performance, or had a strategy to revive their business. - StarBiz
Agreement on MRT Line 2 signed: MMC Gamuda KVMRT (PDP SSP) Sdn Bhd has signed the project delivery partner (PDP) agreement with Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) for the implementation of the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit Line 2 (KVMRT Line2) project. MMC Corp Bhd said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia that the jointly-controlled entity, MMC Gamuda, had signed a PDP agreement for the MRT Sungai Buloh-Serdang- Putrajaya Line. - StarBiz
Muhibbah wins RM143mil port jobs: Construction firm Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd has secured a contracts totalling RM143.1mil from Northport (M) Bhd for the upgrading of a wharf.
Muhibbah secured RM138.8mil worth of work for the design and build for the upgrading of Wharf 8 and associated works at container terminal four (CT4) of Northport, and an additional provisional sum for dredging works of about RM4.3mil, inclusive of the government service tax. - StarBiz
SME Bank operating profit up 64% to RM163.6m: SME Bank’s operating profit in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2014 grew by 64% to RM163.60mil. The strong operating profit was, however, brought down by the increase in impairment provision resulting in the bank recording a pre-tax profit of RM29.33mil. - StarBiz
SapKen wins RM1bil job: SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd (SapKen) has been awarded with a lump sum contract worth US$273mil (RM1.038bil) by Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd for the Mumbai High South Redevelopment Phase III Project on a turnkey basis. SapKen said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Kencana HL Sdn Bhd, had secured the contract. - StarBiz
Hua Yang’s net profit up 25%: Property developer Hua Yang Bhd
posted a nearly 25% jump in net profit to RM29.9mil for the first quarter versus a year earlier due to steady contribution from ongoing projects. The company said revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% to RM142.57mil while Earnings per share stood at 11.32 sen against 9.07 sen a year ago. - StarBiz
Market upbeat about Uzma: The market remains confident about oil and gas services company Uzma Bhd, with analysts maintaining their calls and target prices of the stock.The company recently secured a contract from Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd valued at between RM350mil and RM400mil. It said the contract was for the provision of services covering the leasing, operations and maintenance of a water injection facility for the D18 field in Peninsular Malaysia. - StarBiz
DiGi speeds up expansion of high-speed Internet: Digi.Com Bhd, which posted a net profit of RM464.35mil in the second quarter, has fast-tracked its nationwide 4G LTE high-speed Internet network rollout across five key market centres, covering more than 65% of the population. “We understand that customers demand reliable and consistent experiences on our network, and this has been our core focus,” said DiGi chief executive officer Albern Murty said. - StarBiz
Bandar Malaysia draws strong interest: Several top local and foreign developers who have projects in Malaysia, have made known their interest in 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s Bandar Malaysia project here. A statement from transaction adviser CH Williams Talhar & Wong said they received “strong interest”, with some “40 parties, including some consortiums”, answering the project’s call for expression of interest after the July 10 deadline. - StarBiz
Malaysia climbs to 6th spot as attractive profit centre: Malaysia rose to sixth spot in 2015 from 11th in 2014 in terms of the “Baseline Profitability Index” (BPI), which ranks destinations of attractiveness for foreign investors. The Malaysian Investment Development Authority said the improvement in the country’s ranking was published by the Foreign Policy magazine. - StarBiz
Sanbumi plans diversification: Sanbumi Holdings Bhd, which has been loss-making since 2006, and is primarily involved in the provision of various tourism-related businesses, plans to diversify into property development to reduce its dependency on its existing businesses. Sanbumi said it had proposed to develop a mixed development comprising a 37-storey serviced apartments (436 units), and a nine-storey podium of shops, car parks and other facilities on freehold land measuring 70,988 sq ft at Jalan Rozhan, Bukit Mertajam, Penang. - Edge FD
Scanwolf announces boardroom changes: Scanwolf Corp Bhd has appointed Datuk Othman Talib as its independent and non-executive chairman, replacing Mak Hon Weng who was removed from the post in the company's last month. Scanwolf also announced the appointment of Mua’amar Ghadafi Jamal Jamaludin as independent and non-executive vice-chairman. Mua’amar Ghadafi Jamal, 35, is currently executive director of Syarikat Pembinaan Caj Maju SdnBhd. Scanwolf also saw the appointment of Teoh Teik Kean, 59, as its executive director and Ong Sing Guan, 49, as its independent non-executive director. - Edge FD
Real estate agents lose 40% sales to the bogus every year: The Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) estimates that bogus agents have caused registered real estate agents to lose as much as 40% in sales last year, or about RM40 billion of the RM100 billion worth of property transactions that were carried out by “real estate agents” that year. - Edge FD
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