Energy
Brent Crude traded 1.25% higher at US$59.34 per barrel at 2.35pm
Forex
The ringgit was up 0.10% to 3.7915 versus the US dollar at 3pm
China stocks jump again after Beijing puts floor under market: Chinese stocks rose strongly for a second day today, buoyed by a barrage of government support measures, but worries persist about the long-term impact that four weeks of stock market turmoil may have on the world’s second-largest economy. The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose another 6% yesterday, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 5.4%. — Reuters
China slowdown hits Japan wholesale prices, adds to BoJ woes: Japanese wholesale prices fell 2.4% in the year to June to mark the third straight month of declines, data showed today, as soft demand in China drove down commodities markets. While declines in raw material costs benefit Japanese manufacturers, they will keep life difficult for the Bank of Japan (BoJ) as it strives to accelerate consumer inflation toward its ambitious 2% target, analysts say. — Reuters
Coty buying P&G beauty business for US$12.5bil: Coty Inc, the US maker of Calvin Klein and Chloe perfume, will buy Procter & Gamble’s perfume, hair-care and make-up businesses for US$12.5bil in the biggest cosmetics merger in recent history. Coty would become the No. 1 perfume maker ahead of L’Oreal and No. 3 make-up provider behind its French rival and Estee Lauder. It would run the perfume licences of Gucci, Hugo Boss and Dolce & Gabbana as well as make-up brands Cover Girl and Max Factor, more than doubling its size with combined sales of more than US$10bil. — Reuters
China’s ZTE to partner Softbank on ‘pre-5G’ technology in Japan: Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE Corp said it has struck a deal with Japan’s SoftBank Corp to deploy its “pre-5G” technology in Japan, with a commercial trial to begin early next year. ZTE has touted its “pre-5G” technology as providing faster speeds on 4G network. It sees it as intermediate step between current 4G technology and 5G, the next generation of networks that the wireless industry is hoping to have up and running by 2020. — Reuters
Ex-Tencent employees, including Alibaba executive, held in China graft probe: Chinese authorities have detained about half a dozen former employees of Tencent Holdings Ltd, the country’s biggest social network and online media company, as part of a graft investigation following an internal company probe, Tencent said. Amid a continuing crackdown on corruption by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Tencent said in a statement that “five or six” unidentified people were detained. “An internal investigation brought to light bribery and corruption among some online video employees...The police have been notified and we are waiting for the results,” Tencent said.
Top local news
Malaysia’s May factory output up 4.5%, higher than forecast: Malaysia’s industrial production in May rose 4.5% from a year earlier, beating market expectations as output in all sectors increased, data from the Statistics Department showed. A Reuters poll had forecast annual factory output would expand at 3%, easing from a pace of 4% in April, which was on target with analysts’ expectations. — reuters
Honda Malaysia extends precautionary update: Honda Malaysia has extended its precautionary update to an additional 143,970 units of its models. The models affected in the latest update are the City manufactured between 2006 and 2012, Civic 2006-2011, Civic Hybrid 2007-2011, CR-V 2007-2011, Insight 2011-2012, Jazz 2009-2012 and Stream 2007-2012.
“This proactive measure is to ensure customer safety and we deeply regret the inconvenience caused to customers,” the company said. — Bernama
June palm oil stocks fall 4.3%: Malaysia’s palm oil stocks in June declined 4.3% to 2.15 million tonnes from 2.25 million in May. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board said crude palm oil stock for June decreased 14.55% to 1.10 million tonnes against 1.29 million tonnes previously. Total CPO production eased 2.58% to 1.76 million tonnes at end-June against 1.81 million tonnes previously. - StarBiz
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
