Energy
Brent crude was 0.14% lower at US$49.69 per barrel.
Forex
Ringgit down 0.46% to 4.1477 versus the US dollar at 4pm.
Top foreign stories
EU cautions governments against banning Uber, Airbnb: European Union governments should not ban services like home-rental site Airbnb or ride-hailing app Uber except as a last resort, the EU says in new guidelines, seeking to rein in a crackdown on the “sharing economy”. The European Commission said any restrictions by EU member states on these new online services should be justified and proportionate to the public interest at stake. — Reuters
Australia economy outpaces global peers, rates seen on hold: Australia’s economic growth boomed past expectations in the first quarter with the annual pace speeding to its fastest in over three years, an upbeat result that all but assures the central bank will be on hold at its policy meeting next week. The official data on Wednesday showed gross domestic product (GDP) grew 1.1% in the three months to March, accelerating from an upwardly revised 0.7% and well above the median forecast of 0.8%. — Reuters
Top local stories
Total loan growth slips to 6.3% in April: Amid the challenging operating environment and market volatility, total loan growth in the banking sector moderated further to 6.3% year-on-year in April from 6.4% in March. UOB-Kay Hian Malaysia Research said on Wednesday total loans for April stood at RM1,447.8bil. - StarBiz
Scientex chalks up 43% higher net profit of RM61.3mil for Q3: Global packaging manufacturer and property developer Scientex Bhd
posted a net profit of RM61.3mil in the third quarter, a jump of 42.6%, compared with RM43mil a year ago. Group revenue rose 19.5% to RM543.9mil from RM455.3mil previously. — StarBiz
Petronas Dagangan inks RM355m engine oil supply deal with Perodua: Perodua Sales Sdn Bhd and Petronas Lubricants Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd, a unit of Petronas Dagangan Bhd, inked a RM355 million deal for the latter to supply 17 million litres of engine oil to Perodua, an increase of 21% fram the previous contract, for a period of five years. - StarBiz
Barakah bidding for RM1.7b jobs: Barakah Offshore Petroleum Bhd is bidding for RM1.7bil worth of jobs in the local and international markets. Group president and chief executive officer Nik Hamdan Daud said on Wednesday the company has secured RM1.6bil of orders despite the overall slowdown in the oil and gas industry. — StarBiz
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