Breakfast briefing: Monday, June 20

The result compared with an 11.9 percent increase expected by economists in a Reuters poll. It followed a 12.8 percent year-on-year rise in December, which was the fastest growth in a year. File pic shows a container ship is loaded at a port in Tokyo December 17, 2014. - REUTERS

MarketWatch: US stock markets could see heavy trading and increased volatility as investors position for this week's referendum on whether Britain remains in the European Union. The June 23 vote could have big implications for the global economy and US stocks. Add to this the annual rebalancing of the FTSE Russell indexes, set to go into effect a day after the vote, and it makes for a busy trading week. - Reuters

Energy

Oil prices extended gains on Monday as a weaker dollar and easing worries over Britain's possible exit from the European Union helped buy back the commodity after six straight days of declines.
London Brent crude for August delivery LCOc1 was up 29 cents at US$49.46 a barrel by 2238 GMT on Sunday, after settling up US$1.98, or 4.2%, at US$49.17 on Friday.

Top foreign stories

Japan May exports fall 11.3%: Japan's exports fell 11.3% in May from a year earlier, Ministry of Finance data showed on Monday, as a strong yen and lacklustre growth in emerging markets curb demand for Japanese goods. Imports fell 13.8%. The trade balance came to a deficit of 40.7 billion yen (US$389.10 million). - Reuters

German economy’s second-quarter upswing to continue: The German economy had a good start to the second quarter and its upswing is likely to continue albeit at a slower pace than in the first three months of the year, the Finance Ministry said. Europe's largest economy grew 0.7% between January and March, its strongest quarterly rate in two years, as soaring private consumption, higher construction investment and state spending on migrants more than offset weak foreign trade. - Reuters

China developer Vanke buys Shenzhen Metro unit for US$6.9b: China Vanke, the mainland's biggest property company by sales, said it will acquire a unit of Shenzhen Metro Group for 45.6 billion yuan (US$6.9 billion) via a new share issue, making the state-owned subway operator its largest shareholder. - Reuters

Top local stories

Companies finding it tough raising funds: Fund raising is becoming increasingly difficult in the current market environment. The difficult environment may be the new normal if sentiment on the equity market remained uncertain, analysts note. This may also indicate that investors are less willing to cough up their own cash to plough into their investee companies due to various reasons including the soft market sentiment of late. - StarBiz

Eco World eyes Batu Kawan land: Eco World Development Group Bhd is said to be eyeing a 300-acre leasehold site in Batu Kawan for a RM6bil mixed development project to be launched next year. Sources said the group could fork out up to RM700mil for the property. - StarBiz

Further refining risk parameters for insurance: Bank Negara is looking to further review the risk parameters for the regulation of the local insurance industry over the next two to three years, while keeping close tabs globally on the development of international capital standards for the industry. - StarBiz

HeiTech Padu eyes RM200mil revenue from public sector this year: Heitech Padu Bhd, an IT systems and technology services provider, targets a 20% increase in revenue to RM200mil from its public sector segment for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2016. - StarBiz

CIMB, Lazada in tie-up on SME solutions: CIMB Bank Bhd and Lazada Malaysia have teamed up to offer CIMB Bank’s enterprise clean loans to Lazada merchants to support the expansion of Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). - StarBiz

GST cut a remedy for soft consumer spending?: The recent rebound in crude prices to about US$50 a barrel has some quarters debating on whether the government should trim its goods and services tax rate to spur consumer spending in current economic hard times. - Edge FD