MarketWrap: US stock prices rose slightly on Wednesday helped by a late recovery in oil prices and an encouraging economic report from the Federal Reserve, but equity prices in other major world markets fell on worrisome Chinese and European factory data. - Reuters
The DJIA ended up 0.01% at 17,789.67, the S&P 500 index finished 0.1% higher at 2,099.33 and the Nasdaq closed up 0.08%, at 4,952.25.
Forex summary
*The ringgit lost 0.57% to 4.1715 per US$
*It was 0.97%lower to 4.5797 per euro
*Down 0.31% to 6.0164to the pound sterling
*0.71% lower to 3.0306 per Singapore dollar
*0.28% lower to 3.0169 per Aussie
*Down 1.06% to 3.8269 per 100 yen
Energy
Oil settled down on Wednesday on technical resistance at around the US$50 a barrel mark, with the market retracing most earlier declines after Opec sources said the group will likely consider a production curb at its forthcoming meeting. Brent futures LCOc1 fell 17 cents to settle at US$49.72, after plumbing US$48.65 earlier. The session high was US$50. - Reuters
Top foreign stories
Singapore buys US$1b in Alibaba stock in SoftBank sale: Singapore sovereign wealth funds bought US$1 billion of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's shares as part of an US$8.9 billion sale by Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, Alibaba's biggest shareholder, the company said on Wednesday. GIC Private, Ltd and Temasek Holdings each purchased US$500 million of Alibaba shares at US$74.00 apiece through subsidiaries. - Reuters
Uber raises US$3.5b from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund: Uber has raised US$3.5 billion from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the U.S. ride-hailing service said on Wednesday, gaining a crucial partner in its expansion into the Middle East. The investment from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund was part of Uber's most recent financing round that valued the company at US$62.5 billion, Uber said, making it the most highly valued venture capital-backed company in the world. - Reuters
Top local stories
Khazanah realises value in IHH: Khazanah Nasional Bhd disposed of a block of IHH Healthcare Bhd
shares valued at RM828.7mil in off-market trades in a move to add liquidity to the stock, sources said. The 130.3 million shares were priced at RM6.36 apiece, a discount of 10 sen to the opening price of IHH on Wednesday of RM6.46. - StarBiz
Silk plans to sell highway for RM368m: Silk Holdings Bhd has signed a heads of agreement to dispose of its entire equity interest in highway toll concessionaire Sistem Lingkaran-Lebuhraya Kajang Sdn Bhd (SILK) to WZ Satu Bhd for RM368mil. The company said the disposal consideration would be settled by RM239.25mil in cash and RM128.75mil via 125 million new 50-sen shares in WZ Satu at RM1.03 each. - StarBiz
Embrace fintech, banks told: Banks need to embrace the competition arising from the evolution of financial technology (fintech), instead of fearng it, to better themselves, says CIMB Group Holdings Bhd chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak. - StarBiz
Archaic rules holding back aviation sector: Asean should break away from its archaic rules in the aviation industry for it to fully unleash the full potential, AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes says. - Bernama
More misses than hit in stocks picks: The corporate results reported in the latest quarter have so far come in with more misses than hits. Analysts said the number of companies that exceeded expectations to those that disappointed was still in favour of the latter. Going by reports from various research houses, some analysts have reduced their earnings expectations going forward for stocks in their coverage. - StarBiz
Scomi Eng wins extra RM505mil contracts in Brazil: Scomi Engineering Bhd has been awarded RM504.6mil in additional works for its Line 17 – Gold Sao Paulo monorail project in Brazil, increasing its contract value for the project to RM601.8mil. With the additional works, Scomi Engineering’s order book has increased to RM2.1bil. - StarBiz
Manufacturing activity continues to slide: Malaysian manufacturers continued to cut back on their purchasing activity for the 12th straight month last month, with both production and new orders decreasing at marked rates, a survey released on Wednesday by Nikkei-Markit showed. - Edge FD
Nazir: Asean Secretariat must be empowered: Asean has every reason to be optimistic about its future, but it will “not go very far” with its aim of regional integration and economic growth if the Asean Secretariat is not empowered, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak said. - Edge FD
Ranhill eyes RM300m local jobs to cut non-revenue water: Ranhill Holdings Bhd is eyeing at least RM300 million worth of jobs from various state governments in Malaysia, which is experiencing high non-revenue water of above 40%. - Edge FD
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