Top foreign and local stories at 4pm

Activity fell in Malaysia and Taiwan, a sign the U.S.-China trade conflict's impact on the rest of Asia was broadening.

Energy

Brent crude was 0.16% lower to US$49.62 per barrel at 3.34pm.

Forex

Ringgit down 0.11% to 4.2910 versus the US dollar at 3.40pm.

Top foreign stories

SAP posts Q2 profit below forecast on higher cloud costs: SAP, Europe’s most valuable technology firm, posted rapid growth in its cloud services business in both revenue and expenses, which dragged down its core profits excluding special items, by 3% in constant currencies to 1.57 billion euros. The German company reported revenue for the second quarter rose 10.4% to 5.78 billion euros (US$6.65 billion) from a year ago, — Reuters

US, China fail to agree on trade issues, casting doubt on other issues: The United States and China failed on Wednesday to agree on major new steps to reduce the US trade deficit with China, casting doubt over President Donald Trump’s economic and security relations with Beijing. — Reuters

Fitch says China’s regulation pledge could signal shift away from high growth targets: Fitch Ratings said on Thursday China’s renewed commitment to contain financial risks signals a possible shift away from high economic growth targets, though policymakers are likely to remain cautious about tightening too aggressively. — Reuters

Wanda reworks US$9b deal to sell hotel and tourism assets to Sunac: Dalian Wanda Group, a commercial property conglomerate, reworked a US$9 billion deal to sell hotel and tourism assets to Sunac China after banks scrutinised their credit risk. The new deal brings in Guangzhou R&F Properties as the buyer of 77 hotels for 19.9 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion), 40% less than what Sunac would have paid. Sunac will also pay 43.8 billion yuan (US$6.5 billion) for 91% equity in 13 tourism projects, up from 29.58 billion yuan. The acquisition would make R&F the largest hotel owner in the world. — Reuters

Volvo posts profit rise as Chinese growth gives boost: Volvo Car Group posted operating earnings of 6.8 billion Swedish crowns (US$820 million) for the six months to June 30, up 21%, helped by higher turnover in Europe and China, keeping it on track for record full-year sales. Net sales rose to 99.1 billion crowns, up from 84.2 billion crowns. — Reuters

BoJ pushes back inflation target for 6th time, keeps policy steady: The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady on Thursday but again pushed back the timing for achieving its inflation target, reinforcing expectations it will lag well behind other major central banks in scaling back its massive stimulus programme. — Reuters

Top local stories

Maxis Q2 earnings rise 18% to RM574m: Maxis Bhd’s earnings for the second quarter jumped 17.6% to RM574mil from RM488mil a year ago. Its revenue rose 3.3% to RM2.17bil from RM2.10bil while earnings per share were 7.6 sen compared with 6.5 sen. It declared an interim dividend of five sen a share. CEO Morten Lundal described the quarter as one of many positives. — StarBiz

Bank Negara releases strategy paper on value-based intermediation: Bank Negara, in collaboration with the Islamic finance industry, has released a strategy paper on Value-based Intermediation (VBI). The paper articulates strategies to strengthen the roles and impact of Islamic banking institutions towards a sustainable financial ecosystem, it said. — StarBiz

VS Industry subscribes to HK unit rights issue: VS Industry Bhd is subscribing to its Hong Kong-listed VS International Group Ltd’s rights issue, taking up 200.02 million shares, or 43.49% of the total issuance, for RM25.2mil or 23 HK cents or 12.6 sen apiece. The company said the subscription will be funded entirely with borrowings. — StarBiz

Thailand’s PTT considers taking stake in Malaysia gas facility: Thailand’s state-owned oil and gas giant PTT Plc is considering taking a stake in a natural gas liquefaction plant to be built in Malaysia, a company spokesman said. The PTT board will on Friday consider the project, to be built with Petronas, making a decision on the size of any potential stake, the spokesman added. — Reuters

Lower Q2 earnings for Westports as container throughput dips: Westport Holdings Bhd earnings fell 6.9% to RM148.82mil in the second quarter, mainly due to lower container throughput due to changes in the container shipping industry. Its revenue fell 4% to RM501.44mil from RM522.63mil, while earnings per share were 4.36 sen compared with 4.69 sen a year ago. It declared an interim dividend of 6.37 sen a share, lower than the 7.3 sen a year ago. — StarBiz

Khazanah sold 90.52m CIMB shares for RM571m: Khazanah Nasional Bhd sold 90.52 million shares of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd in an off-market deal at RM6.31 each on Thursday. Stock market data showed the shares were disposed of at 11 sen below Wednesday’s close of RM6.42. The block of shares was valued at RM571.18mil. — StarBiz

Malaysia Airlines launches 3-day flash deals: Malaysia Airlines launched its three-day flash deals campaign on Thursday and the promotion is valid for travel from July 27 until Sept 30, 2017. The campaign offered up to 35% savings on economy class to selected routes. — StarBiz

Kerjaya Prospek wins RM64m jobs: Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd unit Kerjaya Prospek (M) Sdn Bhd has won a RM64.22milcontract for foundation piling and associated sub-structure works for a proposed mixed development, in a related-party transaction. — StarBiz

Naza Kia confident of hitting 2017 sales target: Naza Kia Malaysia Sdn Bhd says it is on track to achieve its 2017 sales target of 5,100 vehicles after having sold 4,378 Kia models last year. — Bernama