On guard: The New York Fed want to be buttoned up in terms of cybersecurity risk.
MarketWrap: Wall Street closed flat on Wednesday after a volatile session, supported by bank shares, as the minutes from the Federal Reserve's April meeting signalled a potential interest rate increase in the near term. - Reuters
DJIA fell 3.36 points, or 0.02%, to 17,526.62, the S&P 500 gained 0.42 points, or 0.02%, to 2,047.63, and the Nasdaq added 23.39 points, or 0.5%, to 4,739.12.
Forex summary
*The ringgit fell 0.47% to 4.0260 per US$
*It declined 0.22% to 4.5717 per euro
*Down 1.75% to 5.9428 to the pound sterling
*0.16% lower to 2.9460 per Singapore dollar
*0.24% higher to 2.9390 per Aussie
*Down 0.55% to 3.6959 per 100 yen
Energy
Oil prices retreated from 2016 highs and snapped a two-day rally on Wednesday, hurt by a surge in the dollar after the US Federal Reserve signalled it could raise interest rates next month. Brent settled down 35 cents at US$48.93 a barrel. Earlier, it came within 15 cents of striking the US$50 target coveted by oil bulls. - Reuters
Top foreign stories
Fed signals interest rate hike firmly on the table for June: Federal Reserve officials felt the US economy could be ready for another interest rate increase in June, according to the minutes from the central bank's April policy meeting released on Wednesday. Most participants in the policy-setting committee's April 26-27 meeting said they wanted to see signs that economic growth was picking up in the second quarter and that employment and inflation were firming, the minutes showed. - Reuters
Five banks sued in US for rigging US$9 trillion agency bond market: Five major banks and four traders were sued on Wednesday in a private US lawsuit claiming they conspired to rig prices worldwide in a more than US$9 trillion market for bonds issued by government-linked organisations and agencies. Bank of America Corp, Credit Agricole SA, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG and Nomura Holdings Inc were accused of secretly agreeing to widen the "bid-ask" spreads they quoted customers of supranational, sub-sovereign and agency bonds. - Reuters
Top local stories
All eyes on interest rates: Analysts expect Bank Negara to hold on the overnight policy rate at its meeting on Thursday with the exception of Standard Chartered Global Research, which expects a 25-basis-point cut. Bank Negara has left OPR unchanged at 3.25% since July 2014. - StarBiz
Nazir given green light to resume CIMB chairmanship: Following an extensive review by two boards of directors of CIMB Group
Holdings Bhd and an external auditor, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak has been given the go-ahead to return from a voluntary leave of absence and resume his role as chairman of CIMB Group and director of CIMB Bank Bhd effective Thursday. - StarBiz
Petronas reports weaker first-quarter earnings: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) reported a 59% fall in net profit to RM4.57bil for the first quarter, as the bottom line was impacted by lower crude oil prices. The national oil company’s revenue declined by 26% to RM49.13bil. Petronas attributed the decline to lower product prices following the prolonged downward trend of the benchmark Brent and Japan Customs Cleared prices, coupled with the lower sales volume of crude oil and condensates, processed gas and petroleum products. - StarBiz
SP Setia launching a slew of projects: Amid the soft property market, SP Setia Bhd plans to launch a slew of projects with a total gross development value of RM4.7bil to bring in sales of RM4bil this year. The property developer has launched two projects – Setia Eco Templer and Edulis – and plans 11 more launches in the second half of the year. - StarBiz
Dialog net profit drops on lower sales, slower upstream activities: Oil and gas services firm Dialog Group Bhd posted a 3.57% drop in net profit to RM78.91mil for the third quarter on slower upstream activities and lower sales in specialist products and services. Its revenue slipped 4.23% to RM641.40mil. - StarBiz
Telenor buys Malaysian money services firm: Oslo-based Telenor Group, which is eyeing a stronger footing in the mobile financial services landscape, has acquired Prabhu Money Transfer Sdn Bhd, a licensed money services business based in Malaysia that provides international remittance services.
UK investors’ confidence in Malaysia still high: The confidence of UK investors in Malaysia’s economy remains high, thanks partly to the continuous high-level efforts by the Government to engage with its UK counterpart and private sector. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who ended his five-day working visit to the UK on Wednesday, noted the importance of reenergising the two countries’ relationship from time to time so that Malaysia would stay on the UK radar. - StarBiz
Sime unit bullish on China halal industrial park project: Sime Darby Utilities Sdn Bhd, a division of Sime Darby Group, is all set with its ambitious plan to build China’s first halal industrial park and halal port. The two projects at the Weifang Sime Darby Port will be launched in the next financial year in 2017/18, with 270ha of land being set aside for the industrial park. - StarBiz
Tanjung Offshore eyes Rapid jobs: Tanjung Offshore Bhd has tendered for contracts worth RM1bil including jobs at Petronas’s Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (Rapid) in Pengerang, Johor. This is part of its strategy to pursue more downstream projects and support services in the oil and gas sector. - StarBiz
UMW’s new plant deemed a timely move: UMW Holdings Bhd’s plan to build a second Toyota production plant in Malaysia is viewed as a positive move by analysts, who see it as a major part of the company’s automotive growth strategy. The Nikkei Asian Review reported that UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of UMW, will build a new plant devoted to building small cars with an initial production capacity of 50,000 units a year. - StarBiz
IOI Corp returns to the black with RM748.4m net profit: IOI Corp Bhd returned to the black with a net profit of RM748.4 million in its third quarter from a net loss of RM188 million a year earlier on higher contribution from its resource-based manufacturing segment and currency translation gain of RM432.8 million. Revenue grew 3.9% to RM2.87 billion.
EA Technique confident of keeping its FSO deals: EA Technique (M) Bhd foresees no challenges in its floating, storage and offloading (FSO) segment as most of its contracts serve the downstream segment and are on long-term charters, as opposed to spot charters, says managing director Datuk Abdul Hak Md Amin. - StarBiz
Events calendar
Bank Negara will announce its decision on the overnight policy rate at 6pm. The consensus is for interest rates to remain unchanged.
The Statistics Department will release the Consumer Price Index data for April. The consensus is for a 2.1% rise from 2.6% before.
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