MONDAY, APRIL 4 KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat sitting at 1000 (0200 GMT); KUALA LUMPUR- Prime Minister Najib Tun Abdul Razak officiates Mara's 50th Anniversary celebration at Premiera Hotel, Menara Mara at 1530 (0730 GMT); KUALA LUMPUR- Signing ceremony of a new Strategic Partnership Agreement between Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) and Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB), Meeting Room 409, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) at 1000 (0200 GMT)
Energy
Brent crude was up 1.25% to US$49.22 per barrel 3.28pm.
Forex
Ringgit up 0.55% to 4.0985 to US dollar at 12.37pm.
Top foregn stories
Sanofi to unveil challenge to Medivation’s board: France’s Sanofi SA is preparing to name candidates it will put forward to replace the entire board of US cancer drug company Medivation Inc as early as Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter. Sanofi has threatened to oust the board after Medivation rejected its unsolicited US$9.3 billion acquisition offer late last month, taking advantage of a so-called ‘written consent’ rule that gives Medivation shareholders the ability to act at any time to replace directors. - Reuters
India’s Tata Steel considers bids for British assets: Britain’s business minister Sajid Javid met Tata Steel bosses in Mumbai ahead of a crunch board meeting on Wednesday expected to discuss potential buyers for its loss-making UK assets. — AFP
London’s City finance hub braces for possible Brexit: With one month to go before Britain’s vital in-out EU referendum, London’s City finance district is busily planning ahead for a potential “Brexit”. Major players like HSBC and Deutsche Bank have said they may need to shift activities abroad and the Bank of England is boosting liquidity in the weeks around the June 23 referendum to avoid a credit crunch. - AFP
Top local stories
Moratorium over transiton of MAS to MAB extended: The ddministrator of Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) has received approval from its stakeholders to extend the current moratorium over the transition of MAS to Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) for a further 12 months until May 24, 2017, to enable the remaining tasks to be completed. — Bernama
TM first-quarter earnings up 150% to RM322m: Telekom Malaysia Bhd
’s earnings surged 150% to RM322.43mil from the RM128.91mil a year ago. Its revenue grew 2.9% on-year to RM2.85bil from RM2.77bil, driven mainly by higher contribution from Internet services revenue. TM’s earnings per share were 8.58 sen compared with 3.47 sen previously. — StarBiz
I-Bhd quarterly profit rises 50%: I-Bhd earnings rose 50% to RM15.36mil in its first quarter, boosted by increased property sales, mostly from its existing projects such as i-SOHO, i-Suite, Liberty and Parisien Towers.
Its revenue was up 6.78% to RM80.45mil. The company’s earnings per share stood at 1.45 sen. — StarBiz
Sime Darby Q3 earnings up 60% to RM663m: Sime Darby Bhd’s earnings jumped 60% to RM663.5mil in the third quarter, boosted by its asset monetisation exercise. Its revenue was up 2.4% to RM10.23bil compared with RM9.99bil a year earlier. Earnings per share were 10.5 sen from 6.68 sen a year ago. - StarBiz
Higher Q1 earnings for RHB Capital: RHB Capital Bhd reported a 15.9% increase in its earnings to RM552.02mil in the first quarter, boosted by net interest income growth and cost improvement. — StarBiz
Axiata Q1 earnings starts slow at RM368.3mil: Axiata Group Bhd saw 37% lower earnings at RM368.3mil for the first quarter, owing to intense competition for Celcom in the postpaid and overseas foreign workers segments, as well as higher depreciation and amortisation charges, bigger net finance costs and lower share of profit from associates, despite higher earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. Its revenue was up 5.43% to RM5.01bil mainly due to higher revenues in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Cambodia as well as a weaker ringgit. - StarBiz
UMW Toyota Motors investing RM2b in new plant: UMW Toyota Motors Sdn Bhd is investing RM2bil in a new assembly and manufacturing plant, which will start operations in 2019. The plant in Bukit Raja, Klang, will have an initial production volume of 50,000 vehicles and will primarily be focused on passenger cars and energy efficient vehicles. - StarBiz
AirAsia X to start direct KL-Mauritius flights from October: AirAsia X Bhd announced on Wednesday that Mauritius will be its latest destination to its growing route network, offering direct flights from Kuala Lumpur three times a week. — Bernama
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