Top foreign and local stories at 4pm

Energy

Brent crude 0.22% higher to US$49.37 per barrel at 3.40pm. 

Forex

Ringgit down 0.27% to 4.0560 versus the US dollar at 4pm.

Top foreign stories

EU to hand Apple Irish tax bill of over 1bil euros: The European Commission will rule against Ireland’s tax dealings with Apple on Tuesday, two source familiar with the decision told Reuters, one of whom said Dublin would be told to recoup over 1 billion euros in back taxes. The EC accused Ireland in 2014 of dodging international tax rules by letting Apple shelter profits worth tens of billions of dollars from tax collectors in return for maintaining jobs. Apple and Ireland rejected the accusation; both have said they will appeal any adverse ruling. — Reuters

Japan top govt spokesman Suga signals readiness to stem yen gains: Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday the government is watching market moves carefully and is ready to respond “appropriately”, when asked whether Tokyo could intervene in the currency market to stem excessive yen rises. — Reuters

Investors criticise SGX as it moves towards dual-class share system: Singapore Exchange is set to allow listings of companies with different classes of shares as it looks to attract initial public offerings, sparking criticism from investors. — Reuters

Minister: France to call for halt to talks on EU-US trade deal: France will ask the European Commission to halt negotiations on a massive trade deal between the European Union and the United States, the country’s Junior Minister for Trade Matthias Fekl said on Tuesday. — AFP

Top local stories

TM posts RM139.4m earnings in second quarter: Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM)’s earnings were down 34.2% to RM139.45mil in the second quarter due to lower operating profit, higher finance cost and foreign exchange losses. TM’s revenue rose 7.2% to RM3.04bil mainly due to higher revenue from Internet and multimedia, data, other telecommunications and non-telecommunications-related services. It declared a single-tier interim dividend of 9.3 sen per share. — StarBiz

Anwar Syahrin to resume duties as UEM Sunrise CEO from Sept 1: Sunrise Sunrise Bhd said on Tuesday Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib will resume his duties as managing director and chief executive officer from Sept 1 after a leave of absence since April 16, 2016.

* The property firm’s earnings for the second quarter were down 34.5% to RM54.66mil on a 44.4% higher revenue of RM537.81mil Its earnings per share were 0.93 sen compared with 1.85 sen a year ago. — StarBiz

PPB Group sees Wilmar losses as short term: Diversified PPB Group Bhd believes the losses suffered by its 18.55%-owned agro-based Wilmar International Ltd as merely a short term setback in the operations of the Singapore-listed firm. — StarBiz

AirAsia to sell leasing arm as early as December to cut debt: AirAsia Bhd expects to sell its aircraft-leasing unit as early as December as group aims to net as much as US$1 billion from the transaction and pare debt. Proceeds from the sale may be used to reduce debt or pay a dividend, group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said in a Bloomberg Television interview. — Bloomberg

Pestech posts quarterly earnings of RM22.4m: Pestech International Bhd posted earnings of RM22.46mil in the quarter ended June 30, 2015, on the back of RM190.66mil in revenue and plans to increase its share of power infrastructure project. — StarBiz

July producer price index down 2.1%: Malaysia’s producer price index (PPI) for July fell 2.1% to 99, the Statistics Department said on Tuesday. It said the highest drop was recorded by the mining index (minus 17.5%) followed by the manufacturing sector (minus 2%). — Bernama

Retail sales growth seen at 3.5% this year: Retail Group Malaysia sees retail sales growth at 3.5% for 2016 or RM99.5b in retail sales value. — StarBiz