The Edge 15 November 2022 Selasa

Crypto.com’s sinking token stirs
fresh anxiety after FTX wipeout p20

tuesday, november 15, 2022 w w w. t h e e d g e m a r k e t s. c o m

Issue 476/2022

ceoMorningBrief
HOME: Ismail Sabri declares Nov 18, 19 public holidays for polling p2
Bursa tells investors to exercise caution in trading Hextar Technologies’ shares p6
Signature International proposes bonus issue after 116%YTD share price gain p8
PetGas’ 3Q profit falls 27% on higher operating cost, unfavourable forex movement p10
WORLD: Chinese stocks storm into bull market on Covid-19, property shifts p21

sam fong/The Edge

High Court dismisses Ringgit
forfeiture of jewellery, regains
watches, and handbags strength
worth RM80 mil owned days ahead
by Najib and Rosmah of GE15
on positive
Report on Page 3. macro
factors

Report on Page 4.

tuesday novemBER 15, 2022 2 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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Ismail Sabri COA to decide on pal Sri Ram represented Syed Iskandar in
declares the first appeal hearing before the bench
Nov 18, 19 Tuesday appeals via Zoom. Meanwhile, lawyer Datuk Ma-
lik Imtiaz Sarwar represented Charles in
public holidays by Pandan voter, the second appeal.
for polling Sri Ram argued before the bench that
incumbent Klang the High Court judge had erred in his
Bernama decision to quash the suit.
MP to stop GE15 Sri Ram said judge Datuk Ahmad Ka-
PUTRAJAYA (Nov 14):The govern- mal Md Shahid, who dismissed a leave
ment on Monday declared Nov 18 application for a judicial review by Syed
and 19 as public holidays to enable Iskandar, was wrong because the exercise
electors to exercise their right to vote of power by the PM to approach theYang
in the 15th general election (GE15). by Timothy Achariam

Caretaker Prime Minister Datuk theedgemarkets.com di-Pertuan Agong to dissolve Parliament
Seri Ismail SabriYaakob, announcing
this on Monday, said Nov 19 is also de- was a constitutional power, and should
clared a public holiday as there may be KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14):The Court not be immune from a judicial review.
some companies from the private sec- of Appeal (COA) will on Tuesday (Nov “It cannot be immunised from a judi-
tor, especially factories, that will be op- 15) make a decision on two appeals to cial review,” he said.
erating on that day, making it difficult stop the Election Commission (EC) from Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bol-
for their employees to cast their vote. holding the 15th general election (GE15) hassan appeared for the Attorney Gen-
on Nov 19 — one from Pandan voter Dr eral’s Chambers for the Prime Minister’s
“The right to vote is a right guar- Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar and the other Department, the EC and the Govern-
anteed by the Constitution and I from incumbent Klang Member of Par- ment, which were the respondents.
don’t want a single person to be pre- liament Charles Santiago. Shamsul argued that Syed Iskandar’s
vented from voting,” he said at the Charles is seeking to overturn a High claim that he would be unable to vote due
ground-breaking ceremony of Wis- Court decision to quash his suit, following to the dissolution of Parliament is unfound-
ma Cuepacs (Congress of Unions of questions surrounding the dissolution of ed, and thus the appeal should be quashed.
Employees in the Public and Civil Parliament, while Syed Iskandar is appeal- In Charles’ suit, former COA president
Services) on Monday. ing against a High Court decision, which Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin was
quashed his originating summons seeking acting for the Government and Ismail Sabri.
Also present were Chief Secretary a judicial review against the dissolution Lawyer Malik contended that Ah-
to the Government Tan Sri Mohd of Parliament. mad Kamal had erred in his judgement,
Zuki Ali and Cuepacs president Da- Syed Iskandar was questioning the va- which said that the PM’s power to request
tuk Adnan Mat. lidity of caretaker Prime Minister Datuk for the dissolution of Parliament was a
Seri Datuk Ismail Sabri’s request to seek non-justiciable subject matter.
The Election Commission (EC) the dissolution of Parliament. He He also said that Ismail Sabri should
has set Nov 19 as the polling day and named the Prime Minister’s De- not have advised the Agong to dissolve
Nov 15 for early voting. partment, the Government and Parliament without first consulting
the EC as respondents. the Cabinet.
On Nov 7, Cuepacs proposed to The hearings of both appeals However, the High Court judge
the government to declare a special were held via Zoom on Mon- said Ismail Sabri did not need to con-
public holiday for Nov 18 to facili- day, before a three-judge bench sult the Cabinet.
tate the movement of Malaysians to led by Datuk Hajjah
polling locations for GE15, and the Azizah Haji Nawawi
next day, Ismail Sabri reportedly said and flanked by Datuk Read the full story
the proposal would be considered. Che Mohd Ruzima
Ghazali and Datuk
See Mee Chun.
Former Fed- Zahid Izzani Mohd Said/The Edge Incumbent Klang
Member of
eral Court judge Parliament Charles
Datuk Sri Go- Santiago.

tuesday novemBER 15, 2022 3 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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High Court dismisses forfeiture of jewellery,
watches, and handbags worth RM80 mil
owned by Najib and Rosmah

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): The High by hafiz yatim RM80 million, are being claimed by Na-
Court on Monday (Nov 14) dismissed the theedgemarkets.com jib and Rosmah.
forfeiture of 2,435 pieces of jewellery, sev-
en Richard Mille watches, and 29 Hermes Zahid Izzani/The Edge This was out of assets worth approxi-
handbags belonging to former prime min- mately more than RM1 billion, comprising
ister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife The 2,435 pieces of jewellery, seven watches close to 12,000 pieces of jewellery, several
Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor which were and 29 Hermes handbags, which were said to hundred handbags and watches, and their
seized by the police in a raid in May 2018. be worth RM80 million, were being claimed by accessories that were seized in the highly
former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak publicised seizure from the condo.
This means that Najib and Rosmah are and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, who was
free to claim back their valuables. sporting an all-red outfit on Monday (Nov 14). It is understood that some of the earlier
items that had been kept at Bank Negara
Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin DPP Faten, however, argued that a re- Malaysia’s vault over the years were re-
said the prosecution had failed to prove turn of the valuables may render the pros- leased or returned following representa-
that the items were products gained from ecution’s appeal nugatory, and due to the tions made.
criminal breach of trust (CBT) using 1Ma- volume of the valuables, the court ought
laysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds. to grant a stay. The application to forfeit was made
under Section 56(1) of the Anti-Money
Jamil said the prosecution had failed to After hearing the submissions, Jamil re- Laundering,Anti-Terrorism Financing and
prove that there was a predicate offence of fused to grant a stay of the ruling. Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
CBT on a balance of probabilities.
With the prosecution not obtaining a Rosmah, who was sporting an all-red
This follows the court finding that the stay of the High Court decision today, Na- outfit, along with Najib, who was wearing
affidavits by main investigating officer As- jib and Rosmah’s lawyers, especially Shafee, a royal blue blazer and a matching blue tie,
sistant Commissioner R Rajagopal and also have indicated that they will try and get were present during Monday’s proceedings.
Superintendent FooWei Min had failed to the valuables back as soon as possible. In
prove CBT of 1MDB funds either from the meantime, the prosecution can appeal Najib was brought from the Kajang
Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners, Good to the Court of Appeal against the High Prison, where he is serving a 12-year jail
Star Ltd, or Alsen Chance Holdings Ltd. Court’s decision on refusing to grant a stay, sentence after being found guilty in rela-
if it wants to. tion to abuse of power, CBT and mon-
The court also ruled that there was no ey laundering of SRC International Sdn
evidence that the RM2.963 billion funds In addition, the prosecution has 14 days Bhd funds.The former PM was also fined
obtained in Najib’s AmBank Islamic ac- from Nov 14 to file a notice of appeal over RM210 million.
count ending with the number 9694, which Jamil’s forfeiture dismissal decision.
came from Prince Saud Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Left with RM80 million from RM1 billion SRC was formerly a subsidiary of
resulted from unlawful activities. The raid was conducted at the Pavilion 1MDB.
condo owned by OBYU Holdings Sdn
“Hence, following the failure to prove Bhd, in the middle of May 2018, follow- In May last year, the judge also dis-
the predicate offence, the prosecution has ing Barisan Nasional and the then-incum- missed the prosecution’s bid to forfeit
unsuccessfully proven the proceeds they bent prime minister’s loss in the 14th gen- RM114 million cash in various foreign
are claiming in this forfeiture exercise are eral election. denominations that was seized in the Pa-
through unlawful activities. vilion raid — after ruling that the prosecu-
OBYU Holdings is owned by business- tion had failed to prove that the cash came
“Following this, the application to for- man Tan Sri BustariYusof, the brother of from illegal proceeds. He ordered for the
feit is dismissed,” the judge said. caretaker Works Minister Datuk Seri Fa- funds to be returned to Umno and Najib.
dillah Yusof.
The court further accepted that the sev- The court prior to this also allowed
en watches in question worth more than The jewellery, watches and Hermes a claim made by Lebanese firm Global
RM4 million were gifts, while the hand- handbags, which were said to be worth Royalty Trading SAL for a US$220,000
bags were not from proceeds of unlawful (RM1.01 million) bracelet that was seized
activities. from the Pavilion raid, as both Najib and
Rosmah had dropped their claim on it.The
The prosecution led by deputy public bracelet was returned to the firm.
prosecutor (DPP) Faten Hadni Khairud- Read also:
din then applied for a stay of the ruling, Pavilion condo raid was just smoking
pending a decision on whether to appeal. gun, says Shafee

Senior lawyerTan Sri Muhammad Sha- Solar project case: Dec 19 case
fee Abdullah, representing Najib, object- management for Rosmah’s appeal
ed to a stay of the ruling, as did lawyer against conviction
Azamuddin Abdul Aziz, who appeared
for Rosmah.

Both argued that the prosecution could
not apply for a stay of Jamil’s decision on
an uncertainty — on whether the prose-
cution would appeal or otherwise.

tuesday novemBER 15, 2022 4 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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Ringgit regains strength days ahead
of GE15 on positive macro factors

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): As Malay- by Priyatharisiny Vasu jerk-reactions are done, demand for US
sians head to the polls this Saturday (Nov theedgemarkets.com dollars will revert to normal transactional
19), the currency market is no short of ex- demand levels,” he told The Edge.
citement of its own, with the ringgit staging USD/MYR one-year performance
a strong rebound of 2.3% in the past two Notably, the ringgit’s gain of 1.59%
trading days. 3.80 seen on Friday was the highest since March
2016.
Ahead of the 15th general election 4.05 4.1615
(GE15), the local currency strengthened The local currency also traded posi-
past the 4.60 level, touching a high of 4.592 4.30 4.5953 tively against a basket of other major cur-
against Friday (Nov 11)’s close of 4.6200, 4.55 rencies on Monday (Nov 14), with gains
driven by stronger-than-expected 3Q eco- of 0.36%, 0.25% and 0.19% to 3.3405,
nomic growth and a slight easing of the 4.80 Nov 14, 2022 5.4187 and 4.7380 against the Singapore
greenback after a milder expansion in the Nov 15, 2021 dollar, British pound and euro, respective-
US Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading ly. It also strengthened 0.94% against 100
for October. Source: Bloomberg Japanese yen.

The local currency has appreciated US dollar’s momentum to slow? The Asian Dollar Index retreated mar-
2.64% against the US dollar since last Alex Kuptsikevich, a Cyprus-based senior ginally to 98.98 on Monday, from 99 last
week. The last time it traded above the market analyst with FxPro UK Ltd, said Friday.
4.60 level was on Sept 23 at 4.5787. in a statement that the Fed’s willingness
to lower the rate hike could be interpret- As the Fed is likely to pivot sooner than
“While Malaysia’s stronger-than-ex- ed as the dollar rally has aged too much. previously anticipated, MIDF Research ex-
pected 3Q gross domestic product (GDP) pects the ringgit to end stronger at RM4.52
growth of 14.2% year-on-year helped lift “The dollar rally triggered by Fed policy by end-2022.
the ringgit’s strength against [the] US dol- has aged too much, and both Fed officials
lar, the US dollar index has taken a brief and market reaction on Friday indicate Having said that, the research house
pause, following the better US CPI reading that the dollar is entering a new phase of pointed out that the decline in oil prices
for October,” Socio-Economic Research the global cycle,” he noted. has limited the ringgit’s appreciation, as
Centre (SERC) executive director Lee Brent crude oil fell 1% to US$95.99 per
Heng Guie told The Edge. ThomasYong, CEO of Fortress Cap- barrel.
ital Asset Management Sdn Bhd, said
On Friday, Bank Negara Malaysia an- the recent strength in the ringgit has The greenback also depreciated against
nounced that the 14.2% economic growth been due to the retracement of the US regional currencies on Monday, including
was underpinned by continued expansion dollar. theThai baht (-0.27%), the Chinese yuan
of domestic demand, a firm recovery in the (-0.21%) and theTaiwan dollar (-0.67%).
labour market and income condition amid “The US dollar has gained significant-
normalising economic activity, as well as ly against all major currencies since US However, it appreciated against the
ongoing policy support. interest rate hikes due to portfolio flows Korean won (+0.58%), the Philippines
and reversal of cheap US dollar financing peso (+0.02%), the Indonesian rupiah
The US Labour Department, mean- that is no longer the case. Once these knee (+0.16%), the Indian rupee (+0.56%),
while, reported that its CPI increased 7.7% as well as the Singapore dollar (+0.31%).
year-on-year in October, down from the
8.2% growth in September. In June, it hit Market optimism on relaxation of
a high of 9.1%. Market expectations are China’s Covid rules
that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will Meanwhile, the easing of China’s strin-
hike the Fed fund rate by a smaller quan- gent Zero-Covid-19 policy has also sparked
tum of 50 basis points (bps) in December, market optimism, according to Vincent
compared to previous four hikes of 75 bps Lau, head of equity sales at RakutenTrade.
each, said Lee. The Fed fund rate stands
at 3.75% to 4.25% currently. “The move is generally cheered by fi-
nancial markets, although Covid-19 cases
The Fed governor Christopher Waller have not really reached a desired mini-
on Sunday (Nov 13) hinted that the Fed mum,” he observed.
would consider slowing the pace of rate
increases at its next meeting, Reuters re- Another senior broker The Edge spoke
ported. to said the impact of the meeting between
US President Joe Biden and Chinese Presi-
“We’re at a point where we can start dent Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20
thinking maybe of going at a slower pace, Summit held on Monday will be keenly
but we’re not softening. Quit paying atten- watched.
tion to the pace and start paying attention
to where the endpoint is going to be. Un- “Markets are looking for any clues or
til we get inflation down, that endpoint is positives from this meeting…as China and
still a way out,” he said at an economic the US do not see eye to eye on many
conference organised by UBS in Australia. matters now. But we shall wait and see
if there is any common ground between
these two behemoth economies,” the sen-
ior broker said.

tuesday novemBER 15, 2022 6 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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Bursa tells
investors to
exercise caution
in trading Hextar
Technologies shares

by Surin Murugiah Hextar Technologies Solutions Bhd the local bourse regulator on Monday.
theedgemarkets.com HextarTechnologies was queried by the
Vol (mil) RM
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Bursa Ma- 4 20 regulator on Oct 19 and 31, following the
laysia Securities Bhd has advised investors spike in it share price.
to exercise caution, and to make informed 3 RM15.40 15
decisions in trading Hextar Technologies Businessman Datuk Eddie Ong Choo
Solutions Bhd shares. 2 10 Meng is HextarTechnologies’ largest share-
holder with a direct stake of 21.37% and
This prompted the counter to drop as 1 5 and indirect stake of 50.11%.
much as RM2.50 or 15.2% to RM14 be- RM1.69
fore closing at RM15.40, down RM1.10 or 0 Over the last five years, Hextar Technol-
6.67%, valuing it at nearly RM2 billion.Year 0 Nov 14, 2022 ogies had been trading largely below RM1,
to date, it has climbed close to seven times. Oct 18, 2021 until a sudden rise in late February last year
— just prior to Ong’s emergence as the com-
In an announcement on Monday (Nov Source: Bloomberg pany’s largest shareholder in March 2021.
14), Bursa drew attention to the recent sharp
rise in the price of HextarTechnologies shares, For the first quarter ended June 30, 2022
and the unusual market activity queries is- (1QFY2023), it posted a 29.46% rise in its
sued to the company on Oct 19 and Oct 31. net profit to RM290,000 from RM224,000
a year earlier on the back of a 158.23%
Formerly known as Complete Logistics jump in revenue to RM28.53 million ver-
Services Bhd, Hextar Technologies in re- sus RM11.05 million previously.
sponse to the queries said it was not aware
of any corporate development or explana-
tion that could have given rise to the unu-
sual trading activities.

“The exchange will not hesitate to take
appropriate regulatory action to ensure fair
and orderly trading of Hextar shares,” said

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Minority Hextar Industries value of Hextar Industries shares of 29.256
shareholders of ACE Market-listed Hextar shareholders sen as at Nov 7, it is of the view that the offer
Industries Bhd have been told to reject the told to reject price is not fair after taking into consideration
takeover bid by its major shareholder Hex- takeover offer that it is 33.61% lower than the closing price
tar Holdings Sdn Bhd, as its independent as at Nov 7 of 57.5 sen, and 38.08% lower
adviser deems the offer price of 38.175 sen theedgemarkets.com than the five-day volume weighted average
per share as “not fair” and “not reasonable”. market price up to the Nov 7 of 61.65 sen.
tuk Ong Soon Ho (23.9%) and DatinTeoh
Hextar Holdings owns a 45.66% stake SiewYoke @ Teoh Siew Chin (11.4%). “The offer is ‘not reasonable’ after hav-
in Hextar Industries, formerly known as ing considered that it is the intention of the
SCH Group Bhd. Upon issuance of the consideration offeror (Hextar Holdings) to maintain the
shares, it sees the Ong family’s sharehold- listing status of Hextar Industries on the
The mandatory takeover offer by Hex- ing in Hextar Industries increasing from ACE Market.Therefore, Hextar Industries
tar Holdings was triggered after the share 45.66% to 77.31%.Thus, they are obliged shares will remain traded on Bursa and the
sale agreement signed on Aug 8 between to extend the offer to acquire the rest of holders will have the opportunity to real-
Hextar Holdings and Hextar Industries, Hextar Industries shares. ise their investments in Hextar Industries
for Hextar Industries to acquire the entire shares in the open market after the closing
equity interest in Hextar Fertilizers Ltd, a In a Bursa Malaysia filing on Monday date,” the independent adviser said.
manufacturer of a wide range of fertilisers, (Nov 14), Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said
from Hextar Holdings for RM480 million even though the offer price of 38.175 sen per Thus, Malacca Securities is advising mi-
became unconditional on Oct 12. share is higher by 30.49% than the estimated nority shareholders to reject the takeover of-
fer, which will remain open until Nov 23.
The acquisition was to be satisfied via
the issuance of new shares in Hextar In- At market close, Hextar Industries
dustries. It was reported that Hextar Hold- shares were down two sen or 3.4% at 56
ings is 64.7%-owned by Datuk Eddie Ong sen, bringing it a market capitalisation of
Choo Meng, together with his parents Da- RM642.51 million.

tuesday november 15, 2022 7 TheEdge CEO morning brief

tuesday novemBER 15, 2022 8 TheEdge CEO morning brief

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Signature Based on the five-day volume-weight- Second cash call by Axis
International ed average price (VWAP) of the group’s REIT in less than a year
proposes bonus issue shares up to Nov 11, and the lowest daily to repay bank financing
after 116%YTD VWAP of the shares during the past three
share price gain months, the theoretical ex-bonus price by justin lim
for the shares is expected to be between theedgemarkets.com
by justin lim RM1.2387 and 72.12 sen.
theedgemarkets.com KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Axis Real
The group said it expects the bonus issue Estate Investment Trust (REIT) has pro-
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Signa- to be completed by the first half of 2023. posed to raise up to RM178 million via a
ture International Bhd, whose share price private placement to repay bank financing.
closed at a record high of RM2.98 on Signature International’s share price
Monday (Nov 14), has proposed a one- rose 36 sen or 13.74% to close at RM2.98 This is the REIT's second cash call in
for-one bonus issue. on Monday, valuing the group at RM880 less than a year after it completed a private
million. placement on Dec 20, 2021, which raised
In a Bursa Malaysia filing, the kitchen gross proceeds of RM334.72 million, also
cabinet manufacturer said the entitlement Year to date, the counter has risen by for repayment of bank financing.
date will be determined later. 116% or RM1.60, from RM1.38.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Mon-
Signature International said the bonus Chin Hin Group Bhd founder Da- day (Nov 14), Axis REIT said the latest
issue of up to 295.25 million shares would tuk Seri Chiau Beng Teik is the largest placement involves issuing up to 100 mil-
result in the group’s share base doubling shareholder of Signature International, lion new units, representing up to 6.09% of
to up to 590.5 million shares. with a 32.5% stake. the REIT's total issued units, to be placed
out to investors to be identified later.
Chiau, through his private entity Divine
Inventions Sdn Bhd, holds a 36.88% in- The placement will be determined later
direct stake in Chin Hin. He also directly and will be priced at a discount of not more
owns a 17.7% stake in Chin Hin. than 10% to the five-day volume weighted
average market price (VWAMP) of the units,
Chin Hin’s share price climbed to an immediately before the price fixing date.
intraday high of RM3.39 on Monday,
before settling at RM3.37, up 22 sen For illustration purposes, assuming the
or 6.98%. maximum number of placement units are
issued at an issue price of RM1.78 per unit,
Signature International Bhd Chin Hin Group Bhd RM it would represent a discount of about 3.42%
RM3.37 to theVWAMP of the units for the five market
RM 3.5 days up to and including the latest practicable
3.5 date of Nov 3 of RM1.8430, said the REIT.
2.5
RM2.98 Maybank Investment Bank has been ap-
pointed as principal adviser to the manager for
2.5 the proposed placement, which is expected to
be completed by the second quarter next year.
1.5 1.5
RM1.36 Axis REIT closed unchanged at
Nov 14, 2022 0.5 91.8 sen Nov 14, 2022 RM1.85 per unit on Monday, valuing it
0.5 Nov 15, 2021 at RM3.04 billion.
Nov 15, 2021
Source: Bloomberg
Source: Bloomberg

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): GuocoLand GuocoLand swings cies and average room rates due to the increase
(Malaysia) Bhd, the property arm of Hong back to the black in tourist arrivals coupled with the simplifica-
Leong Group, began its financial year ending in 1Q tion of entry regulations into the country and
June 30, 2023 (FY23) on a strong note after enhanced local travel and business activities.
swinging back to profitability with a net profit of by shazni ong
RM1.57 million in the first quarter ended Sept theedgemarkets.com On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Guo-
30, 2022 (1QFY23) compared with a net loss coLand's net profit tumbled 93.39% from
of RM7.98 million in the same period last year. in the same period a year earlier. RM23.79 million posted for 4QFY22 as reve-
GuocoLand's property development di- nue dropped 40.43% from RM172.08 million
This was mainly attributable to higher recorded in the immediate preceding quarter.
contribution from the property develop- vision reported a better performance due
ment division and lower loss incurred by to contributions from its ongoing projects Looking ahead, GuocoLand noted strong
the hospitality division. of Emerald 9 and Emerald Hills in Cheras. domestic demand, new infrastructure pro-
jects and a vibrant service sector will offset
As such, the property developer posted Concurrently, the performance of the hos- some of the risks from a global slowdown.
earnings per share of 0.24 sen from a loss per pitality division improved with higher occupan-
share of 1.19 sen recorded previously, its Bursa However, it cautioned that factors such
Malaysia filing on Monday (Nov 14) showed. as elevated building material pricing, infla-
tion, rising interest rates, currency volatility
Quarterly revenue almost tripled to and shortage of labour continue to pose
RM102.5 million from RM35.13 million challenges to the domestic property sector.

t u e s d a y n o v e m B E R 1 5 , 2 0 2 2 10 T h e E d g e C E O m o r n i n g b r i e f

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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Petro- PetGas’ prove in line with the economic recovery.
nas Gas Bhd’s (PetGas) net profit for 3Q profit falls It expects its performance in 2022
the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 27% on higher
(3QFY2022) fell 27% to RM425.82 mil- operating cost, to remain resilient, on the back of long-
lion from RM580.84 million for the same unfavourable term contracts that ensure steady revenue
period last year, amid higher operating cost forex movement streams, particularly for its gas processing,
— mainly relating to fuel gas and internal gas transportation and regasification busi-
gas consumption costs, and the impact of by Shazni Ong ness segments.
unfavourable foreign exchange movements. theedgemarkets.com
“During the period, the group has [also]
The decline in 3QFY2022 profit came the edge file photo renewed several long-term utilities’ con-
despite revenue climbing 9% to RM1.56 tracts, which improved the utilities seg-
billion from RM1.43 billion, mainly lifted ment’s margin for 3QFY2022 perfor-
by a stronger utilities segment’s contribu- mance, and consequently helped to partly
tion as a result of higher product prices, in mitigate the adverse impact of higher fuel
line with higher fuel gas prices. gas cost.”

Earnings per share were reduced to Nevertheless, it also noted that the rise
21.52 sen from 29.35 sen previously.The in the Malaysia Reference Price, further
group declared a third interim single-tier weakening trend of the ringgit against the
dividend of 18 sen, payable on Dec 12, US dollar, and the imposition of the one-
with the stock to trade ex-dividend on off prosperity tax will continue to impact
Nov 29. the group’s overall performance.

For the first nine months of FY2022, “Even as the group contends with the
net profit dropped 20% to RM1.23 billion weakening trend of the ringgit against the
from RM1.54 billion, despite cumulative US dollar, and elevated fuel gas prices,
revenue growing 9% to RM4.53 billion continuous efforts will be pursued to de-
from RM4.15 billion. liver operational excellence and ensure a
sustained level of returns to our sharehold-
Looking ahead, PetGas said gas and ers,” it added.
utilities demand is expected to improve,
with the country transitioning into the PetGas shares finished six sen lower
endemic phase of Covid-19, and the at RM16.94 each on Monday (Nov 14),
group expecting assets utilisation to im- bringing the group a market capitalisation
of RM33.5 billion.

Samchem Samchem Holdings Bhd’s net profit and revenue
records higher
Net pro t (RM mil) Revenue (RM mil)
3Q revenue,
lower net profit 25 23.91 500

by Sufi Muhamad 20 288.61 18.01 18.95 19.24 272.81 430.53 19.58 366.67 317.23 400
theedgemarkets.com 15 9.51 304.59 330.69 371.55 12.61 364.51 18.20 300
10 258.42 201.09 200
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Samchem 100
Holdings Bhd achieved a 16% growth in 5 4.32 8.76 6.50
revenue to RM317.3 million for the third
quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 (3QFY2022), 00
against RM272.8 million a year ago. 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q

However, the chemical product distrib- 2020 2021 2022
utor’s net profit nearly halved to RM6.49
million for the quarter under review, com- Source: Bursa Malaysia
pared with RM12.6 million for the previ-
ous corresponding quarter, according to came in lower at RM44 million, versus to the new economic benchmark, ration-
a filing with the stock exchange. RM50.8 million previously. alising product prices and normalising in-
ventory levels,” Ng added.
Earnings per share also dropped to Nonetheless, higher sales volumes and
1.19 sen for 3QFY2022, from 2.32 sen average selling prices helped lift cumulative “Despite the various challenges, we re-
a year ago. revenue by 8% to RM1.04 billion, from mained profitable and maintained strong
RM975 million for 9MFY2021. financial resilience.”
Samchem attributed the lower profit to
higher cost and loitering business activities Commenting on the earnings perfor- Ng highlighted that Southeast Asia had
faced by customers due to uncertainties. mance, chief executive officer NgThin Poh become a more prominent manufacturing
noted that Samchem faced several chal- hub as an alternative to China.
For the nine-month period ended Sept lenges, including interest hikes, inflation-
30, 2022 (9MFY2022), net profit also ary pressures, higher input costs, logistics The group expects its Pulau Indah and
disruptions and China’s zero-Covid policy Vietnam expansion to be completed by end-
in 3QFY2022. 2022, increasing its total warehousing capac-
ity by 38% in Malaysia, and 58% inVietnam.
“We view the setback in chemical de-
mand as temporary, as the market adjusts Samchem closed unchanged at 70 sen
a share on Monday (Nov 14).

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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14):FormerTreas- Ex-Treasury sec utes. Although [Najib] was the BOA chair-
ury secretary general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ir- gen Irwan earned man, he himself never informed me of any
wan Serigar Abdullah told the High Court on RM25,000 a month meetings regarding the BOA,” he said.
Monday (Nov 14) that he received RM25,000 sitting on 1MDB’s
in monthly allowance for his capacity as a advisory board, He added that to his knowledge, the BOA
member of the board of advisors (BOA) of was led by Najib, himself andTan Sri Dr Ali
1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), de- court told Hamsa, formerly the chief secretary to the
spite not having any meetings back then. government. He didn’t know any of the other
by Tarani Palani members who were appointed, as no meet-
The prosecution’s 42nd witness recount- theedgemarkets.com ings were held.
ed this while testifying in the 1MDB-Tanore
trial, where former prime minister Datuk Seri himself, following Parliament’s Public Ac- “I once asked [the chief secretary]
Najib Razak is facing 25 charges over misap- counts Committee investigations into 1MDB. whether or not there were BOA meetings,
propriation of RM2.28 billion of funds from but [the chief secretary] answered that he
the strategic development company. Even after the BOA was dissolved, Irwan also did not know, and was not invited to
said he continued to receive RM25,000 in any meetings related to 1MDB’s BOA since
Irwan testified that he had also received monthly allowance for his capacity as the he was appointed,” Irwan testified.
a lump-sum payment of RM221,774 as an 1MDB chairman for a brief spell.
“outstanding payment” for his services, be- Following that, he never asked the chief
fore receiving the monthly allowance. “After the BOA was dissolved, I received secretary or Najib about the BOA meetings.
an allowance [in my capacity] as the 1MDB
“Before I received the monthly allow- chairman — also amounting to RM25,000 During his testimony, in reply to lead pros-
ance, I received a lump-sum payment of per month — but in 2016, the payment ecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram’s query, Ir-
RM221,774 via a cheque in August 2013. was made in a ‘lump sum’ amounting to wan testified that although no official meetings
RM300,000. This payment was also made were called, he had advised the former PM on
“I was informed that this payment was through a 1MDB cheque to me,” he said. 1MDB-related matters in his capacity as the
an outstanding payment to me as a member ‘Never attended any meetings, but Treasury secretary general, who oversaw Min-
of 1MDB’s BOA, since I held the position advice given unofficially’ ister of Finance Inc (MOF Inc) companies.
of theTreasury secretary general in August Irwan also testified that since he was ap-
2012 to August 2013,” he testified. pointed as a member of the BOA, “he had Sri Ram: Did you attend any [BOA]
never been called or received an invitation” meetings?
Earlier, Irwan told the court that he was to attend any meetings.
promoted to the position of the Treasury Irwan: No, but I would like to add that
secretary general in August 2012. “For me, the meetings were never held although the BOA meetings were not called,
because I never saw the BOA meeting min- [as I was] the Treasury secretary general
‘Payment continued in capacity as and also [because] 1MDB was related to
1MDB chairman’ MOF Inc, there was advice given unofficial-
“I did not ask for this allowance, but rather ly. Sometimes, he (Najib) listened, some-
this payment was made by 1MDB to me times he [made] his own decisions.
through a company cheque,” he said.
The trial before High Court judge Da-
Irwan further testified that he received the tuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on
monthly allowance from 2013 until 2016, Tuesday.
when the BOA was dissolved by the then PM

‘Nice man’ Najib remained mum when told 1MDB officials needed to be charged

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Former by Tarani Palani quiet. Knowing Datuk Seri Najib, he’s
treasury secretary-generalTan Sri Mohd theedgemarkets.com a nice man,” added Mohd Irwan.
Irwan Serigar Abdullah said Datuk Seri
Najib Razak kept mum when told that the edge file photo ‘Why am I charged?’
1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) The former treasury secretary-general
officials ought to be charged. lamented that it was he who eventually
ended up being charged, although he was
Testifying in the 1MDB-Tanore trial, merely trying to restructure the troubled
Mohd Irwan said this happened when he fund and repay its debts.
met with the former prime minister after
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee He said after the PAC made its rec-
(PAC) had issued its recommendations on ommendations, he told Najib that two
the troubled fund in 2016. things must be done.

“The third thing mentioned specifically “One is to restructure 1MDB; that’s
by PAC was to charge [1MDB’s former what I have been doing, restructuring the
CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Hal- whole 1MDB. Second, to pay the debt,
mi], and also the board chairman, that is so that we don’t cross-default. Because
Tan Sri Lodin [Wok Kamaruddin ]. I paid the debt, you know, the previous
government charged me unnecessarily,
“I told [Najib, the authorities need to] there’s a case going on,” he said.
charge these two fellows,” the witness said.
(The PAC had in fact only recommended Former treasury secretary-general Read the full story
that Shahrol be charged, and not Lodin.) Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.

“But he’s a nice man; he just kept

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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Fitch Solu- Malaysia’s growth omy to expand by just 5.8% in 4Q2022,
tions Country Risk and Industry Research to lose momentum before decelerating further to an average
has raised its forecast for Malaysia’s real of 4% in 2023 due to three reasons.
gross domestic product (GDP) growth to over coming
8.4% in 2022, from 5.9% previously, after quarters, says “First, we expect the growth boost from
the economy expanded by an average of Fitch Solutions base effects and pent-up demand from
9.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) in the first three the lifting of Covid-19 curbs to fade in
quarters of the year. by surin murugiah 4Q2022, and especially going into 2023.
theedgemarkets.com
In a report last Friday (Nov 11), the “Households and businesses have al-
firm, however, kept its 2023 growth fore- “Considering the latest growth print, we ready drawn down on their savings con-
cast unchanged at 4%. are revising our 2022 growth forecast to 8.4%, siderably since April 2022, suggesting that
from 5.9% previously,but are keeping our 2023 the surge in aggregate demand in 2Q2022
“Over the coming quarters, we expect growth forecast unchanged at 4%,” it said. and 3Q2022 is unlikely to be sustained.
that tightening monetary conditions, fad-
ing base effects and pent-up demand, as Fitch Solutions expects growth to have “Furthermore, it is likely that fuel and
well as a slowing global growth environ- peaked in 3Q2022, and forecast the econ- food subsidies will be scaled back over
ment will weigh on Malaysia’s economic the coming months as the government
growth momentum,” it said. attempts to consolidate public finances,
and this will likely weigh on household
Fitch Solutions said Malaysia’s real purchasing power going forward,” it said.
GDP growth came in at 14.2% y-o-y in
the third quarter of 2022 (3Q2022), up Accordingly, the firm forecast private
from 8.9% in 2Q2022, boosted by strong consumption growth to slow significantly
private consumption and investment, ro- to 5% in 2023, from 11.5% in 2022.
bust exports, and favourable base effects.

“The economic performance surpassed
consensus and our expectations, and brought
the average cumulative growth in the first
three quarters of the year to 9.4% y-o-y.

“On a seasonally adjusted basis, growth
came in at 1.9% q-o-q in 3Q2022, slowing
significantly from 3.5% in 2Q2022,” it said.

Fitch Solutions maintained its view
that over the coming quarters, Malaysia’s
growth momentum will continue to weak-
en as credit conditions tighten further and
pent-up demand fades.

Moreover, it said the outlook for exports
will likely weaken on the back of a slowing
global economy and as the semiconductor
industry heads into a downcycle.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Malaysia Malaysia ranks this region and Asia, attracting the atten-
has established itself as one of the world’s among world’s tion of major international firms in the
top offshore manufacturing hubs for med- medical device industry.
ical devices, with close to 300 medical de- top offshore
vice manufacturing companies under- manufacturing “MIDA also plays the role of mediator
taking a variety of activities ranging from hubs for medical between the companies and local regulators,
regional headquarters and manufacturing devices, says report ensuring the quality standards and require-
to research and development (R&D). ments match the global demand,” he said.
by surin murugiah
In a statement on Monday (Nov 14) in theedgemarkets.com Meanwhile,AMMI chairman Andy Lee
conjunction with the Association of Ma- said Malaysia will continue to attract more
laysian Medical Industries (AMMI) Med- “AMMI has helped the industry’s major foreign direct investment in medical device
ical Device Industry Status and Outlook companies organise training programmes, manufacturing with the ratification of the
2021/2022 Report, the Malaysian Invest- which have benefited 2,647 Malaysians and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement
ment Development Authority (MIDA) and increased their chances of securing bet- for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
AMMI said 10 out of the top 30 global med- ter jobs.
ical technology have set up manufacturing He said AMMI believes that the indus-
in Malaysia, and thus puts the country in “AMMI has helped promote Malaysia try has the potential to scale even further
the company of Puerto Rico, Ireland and as a prospective investment destination in and capitalise on the global medical de-
Costa Rica offshore manufacturing hubs. vice market, which is expected to reach
US$745 billion (RM3.4 trillion) by 2030.
MIDA chief executive officer Datuk
Wira Arham Abdul Rahman said that since He said that in the pandemic era,
2015, AMMI has collaborated closely with AMMI members’ investment levels in
MIDA to foster the development of the Malaysia continued to grow, adding that
country’s medical device industry. 63% of its members indicate future de-
velopment plans, and that this trend is ex-
pected to continue in the coming years.

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news In brief

Swift Haulage 3Q net profit up 3% on higher revenue contributions from G Capital’s unit signs renewable
container haulage, transportation segments energy power purchase deal with
TNB
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Swift Haulage Bhd’s net profit for the third quarter ended KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): G Capital Bhd
Sept 30, 2022 (3QFY22) rose 3.15% to RM11.72 million, from RM11.36 million a year has entered into a 21-year renewable
earlier, on higher revenues from its container haulage and land transportation segments. energy power purchase agreement
Revenue for 3QFY22 climbed 19.25% to RM159.25 million from RM133.54 million, (Reppa) with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).
the integrated logistics service provider’s Bursa Malaysia filing showed. The container According to its filing with Bursa Malaysia,
haulage segment recorded a revenue of RM69.5 million while the land transportation the Reppa was inked via G Capital’s
segment recorded a revenue of RM51.3 million, and together accounted for 75.8% 74.64%-owned subsidiary Hydro R E Sdn
of the total revenue. Meanwhile, the warehousing and container depot segment Bhd (KHRE). Under the deal, TNB will
contributed RM21.2 million and the freight forwarding business contributed RM16.4 buy electricity from KHRE at a feed-in-
million. For the cumulative nine months ended Sept 30, 2022, Swift Haulage’s net profit tariff (FiT) rate of 24.61 sen per kilowatt
increased 16.58% to RM39.22 million from RM33.64 million in the same period of FY21 hour. The Reppa’s tenure will start from
as revenue grew 11.33% to RM479.67 million from RM430.86 million. — by Shazni Ong the commercial operation date, which
is scheduled to be May 11, 2027. The
Ex-company director jailed for Ranhill bags RM124 mil FPSO service announcement came after KHRE was
unlicensed fund management contract from Brazil’s Petrobras granted in May this year the feed-in
activities approval by the Sustainable Energy
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Ranhill Development Authority Malaysia for
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): A former Utilities Bhd has bagged a US$27 million a two-megawatt high-head mini hydro
company director, Uzir Abd Samad, was (RM124 million) contract to perform water plant in Sungai Geroh, Perak. — by
on Monday (Nov 14) convicted by the detail design engineering services for a Justin Lim
Sessions Court in Johor Bahru of three new floating, production, storage and
offences relating to unlicensed fund offloading (FPSO) vessel for Brazil’s Shahrizal Suhainy resigns as TH
management activities and wrongfully state-owned oil and gas (O&G) company Plantations’ CFO
holding himself out as a licensed person. Petrobras. In a Bursa Malaysia filing, KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): TH
The former director of UAS Bistari Ranhill said the project was secured Plantations Bhd said Shahrizal Suhainy
Management Sdn Bhd pleaded guilty to by its 51%-owned subsidiary Ranhill (pic) has resigned as its chief financial
one charge under Section 58(1) of the Worley Sdn Bhd from Singapore-based officer (CFO) to pursue other career
Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 Semcorp Marine Integrated Yard Pte Ltd. opportunities. “The board is currently
(CMSA) for misrepresenting himself as a Ranhill Worley is principally involved in taking the appropriate action to find a
fund manager licensed by the Securities the provision of engineering and design suitable candidate to replace Shahrizal
Commission Malaysia to investors, the services of O&G facilities in the energy, as the CFO,” the plantation arm of
commission said in a statement. Uzir, 50, chemical and resource sector. Ranhill Lembaga Tabung Haji said in a bourse
also pleaded guilty to two other charges said the vessel to be built, P-82, would be filing. Shahrizal, 38, was appointed to the
under Section 362(3) of the CMSA for one of the largest vessels to be deployed post on Oct 1 last year. On the same day,
wrongfully using the titles and holding in the Buzios field, an ultra-deep-water Mohamed Zainurin Mohamed Zain took
himself out as a “fund manager” and O&G field covering an area of 853 square over as TH Plantations’ chief executive
“Securities Commission capital market kilometres in the pre-salt Santos Basin, officer. Prior to joining TH Plantations,
services representative’s licence (CMSRL) about 180 kilometres off the coast of Rio Shahrizal had served KPMG PLT in
holder” in documents to investors, the de Janeiro in Brazil. — by Justin Lim various positions since June 2007. — by
SC said. Judge Fatimah Zahari sentenced Shazni Ong
Uzir to a one-year jail term for each of Heng Kear Huat ceases to be
the three charges and ordered that the substantial shareholder of Artroniq
sentences be served concurrently, with
effect from Monday, the regulator added. KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Heng Kear
— by Justin Lim Huat, who previously held 30.55 million
shares or a 9.61% stake in Artroniq Bhd,
has ceased to be a substantial shareholder
in the ICT provider. In a bourse filing,
Artroniq said Heng disposed of 14.7
million shares in the open market on
Friday (Nov 11). Heng first emerged as a
substantial shareholder in the company,
which was previously known as Plastrade
Technology Bhd, in March 2020 via the
indirect acquisition of 76.27 million shares
or a 29.04% stake. The company’s founder,
Pua Kong Hoi, is the largest shareholder of
Artroniq, with a 16.98% stake and a 0.53%
indirect stake, according to Artroniq’s
2021 annual report. — by Shazni Ong

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False alarm on It was reported several days ago that reuters
data breach another data breach has allegedly occurred
involving the EC’s database and the per- Fair weather
claims, says EC sonal details of 800,000 voters, which was forecast for
up for sale on an online marketplace for polling day
by Vanessa Gomes US$2,000, and the seller requested to be
theedgemarkets.com paid in either Bitcoin or Monero crypto- Bernama
currencies.
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14):The Election KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14):The
Commission (EC) has refuted claims that its Lowyat.net reported that the seller also weather on polling day for the 15th
system suffered a data breach involving the claimed that they are in possession of the general election (GE15) on Saturday
personal details of 800,000 voters. full electoral roll with details of 22 million (Nov 19) is expected to be good in
voters, although the listing focused sole- the morning in several states accord-
In a Facebook post on their official page, ly on the MySPR online system’s eKYC ing to the Malaysian Meteorological
the EC said that the news currently circulating (electronic know your customer) data. Department (MetMalaysia).
is an old allegation that has resurfaced.The
EC added that it has been working closely It was spotted by Twitter user @acaii- On its website, MetMalaysia is
with the National Cyber Security Agency of jawe, who found alleged personal details forecasting no rain in the morning
Malaysia (NACSA) to investigate the matter. such as full names, identification numbers, in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Negeri
email addresses, birth dates and home ad- Sembilan, Melaka, and Johor.
“The EC has taken appropriate action dresses had been revealed.Voter’s photos,
to ensure that there are no intrusions voting centre and all EC information were However, MetMalaysia is pre-
of the system. The EC always ensures also compromised by the seller. Moreover, dicting thunderstorms and rain in
the security of voter data through con- it contained more than 1.6 million eKYC most states in the evening, especially
tinuous monitoring using an effective images with a total file size of 67GB. on the East Coast states of Pahang,
security infrastructure,” the post read. Terengganu, and Kelantan as well
It was understood that CyberSecurity as northern states, namely Perlis,
Malaysia was aware of the breach and in- Kedah, Penang, and Perak, which
vestigated the matter, identifying wheth- would experience rain and thunder-
er or not any such breach had occurred. storms in the morning and evening.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Police Police open 31 Only Putrajaya is expected to
opened 31 investigation papers on various of- investigation have fair weather in the morning
fences committed on Sunday amid the 15th papers on GE15- and evening while Labuan would
general election (GE15) campaigning period. related offences experience thunderstorms in sev-
eral areas in the morning and
Royal Malaysian Police GE15 opera- Bernama evening.
tions director Datuk Seri Hazani Ghazali
said of the total, seven investigation pa- issued on Sunday, with 612 in Sabah, fol- The weather for Sarawak on
pers were opened in Perak, followed by lowed by Sarawak (294), Perak (258), Johor Saturday morning would be fair
Kedah (five), Negeri Sembilan (four), Jo- (177), Kedah (162), Pahang (138), Selan- but thunderstorms are predicted
hor (four), Selangor (three), Pahang (two), gor (119),Terengganu (102), Kelantan (95), to occur in one or two places in the
Kelantan (two), Sabah (two), and one each Negeri Sembilan (92), Melaka (76), Penang interior of the state in the evening
in Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak. (47), Kuala Lumpur (27), and Perlis (12). while Sabah is expected to experi-
ence thunderstorms in one or two
Some of the offences, including incitement, In Kuantan, Pahang police opened two places in the morning and evening.
criminal threats as well as damaging flags and GE15-related investigation papers for offenc-
signs belonging to political parties and candi- es involving damaging flags and billboards The temperature nationwide is
dates, are being investigated under Sections belonging to political parties and candidates. expected to be around 22 °C with
427, 436, and 505(b) of the Penal Code while a maximum of 33 °C on that day.
other offences are being investigated under the Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Ramli
Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 Mohamed Yoosuf said the two cases oc-
and Election Offences Act 1954. curred in Felda Lembah Klau, Raub and
Kampung Meranti Nenasi, Pekan.
He said four individuals were arrested,
including two in Johor involving a man sus- “Police received reports of flags and ban-
pected of burning a tent at the operations ners being taken out and thrown into drains
room of a political party inTaman Mutiara, in Raub while in Pekan, reports were lodged
Batu Pahat and another man in Kluang for regarding 30 flags and one billboard of a
damaging campaigning materials. Bebar State Legislative Assembly candidate
along the road being pulled out and dam-
He said in a statement that the other aged,” he said in a statement on Monday.
two who were arrested — one each in Ipoh,
Perak and Kuching, Sarawak — are being Both offences are being investigated
investigated in connection with damaging under Section 427 of the Penal Code for
the posters and flags of party candidates. committing mischief.

Hazani said police also detected four
ceramah held without permits, with three
in Johor and one in Perlis.

A total of 2,211 permits to hold ceramah
during the GE15 campaigning period were

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Sam Fong/The Edge

Split Malay votes could benefit Ledang,
but seat too close to call

TANGKAK (NOV 14):The Ledang par- by Kamarul Azhar has been with us for a long time,” said
liamentary seat in northern Johor is one theedgemarkets.com the pakcik when met by The Edge at the
of the seats that Pakatan Harapan (PH) is Taman Tangkak Jaya hawkers centre on
hoping to retain in the 15th general elec- and 80% of the Chinese and Indian votes. Nov 8, after the ceramah by Anwar.
tion (GE15), due to it being a mixed seat. “Even if we can get 65% to 70% is good
While the pakcik understands about
Despite having a Malay majority, Ledang enough right now from the Chinese, 45% the issues of corruption, saying that “al-
is so important to the coalition, becoming of the Indian votes, and then Malay. It has locations from the top did not reach the
the centre for its rallies in northern Johor. been the case that if it is for BN, their share bottom, as somebody is taking a cut at
On Nov 8, PH’s chairman Datuk Seri An- of the Malay votes is about 38% to 40%,” every single layer”, the race and religion
war Ibrahim kicked off his Johor tour in Le- said Syed Ibrahim. sentiment for him is still strong.
dang, while on Nov 11, his right-hand man
Rafizi Ramli came down to the constituency. While support from the Chinese — Nonetheless, he acknowledged that
and to certain extent including Indians Syed Ibrahim has been performing well
However, with the Malays making up — remains strong for PH, judging from as a candidate, while saying Barisan Na-
55.76% of the total electorate in Ledang, the turnouts in PH’s two rallies featuring sional’s candidate Hamim Samuri was
and that PH is not very popular among national leaders recently, Syed Ibrahim is not a friendly character to the locals.
the community, can its incumbent Syed not complacent when it comes to winning
Ibrahim Syed Noh defend the seat for the hearts and minds of the Malays. Split Malay votes an advantage for PH?
the Opposition coalition? In a mixed-seat like Ledang, the split of the
This is because one cannot discount the Malay votes will determine who will win the
“If we can get 18% to 19% of the Ma- possibility of the Malays deserting the coalition seat.In the GE14,the split of the Malay votes
lay votes, then we will be on the right after what had happened over the last four and had benefitted PH, with the Chinese and
track,” said Syed Ibrahim when met at a half years in national politics.The split up of Indian votes firmly behind Syed Ibrahim.
his service centre in Tangkak recently. PH — with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia
leaving the coalition in February 2020 — has “If you say the Malay votes are split,
There are three state seats in Ledang — left the coalition with no Malay-based parties. true; and the last time, that benefitted us.
Bukit Gambit, Serom and Tangkak. The The votes were split between PAS and BN
total number of voters is 104,577. More Whether for better or worse, or rightly then. So we get [a] good number, even
than 39% of the voters are Chinese, while or wrongly, the narrative of race and re- though we only got the support [from]
Indians make up 4.57% of total voters. ligion is still an overarching narrative for among the Malays, maybe around 16%.
many Malay voters, especially in the rural
However, in the state seat ofTangkak, and sub-rural areas. “But this time round, I am hoping
where the main town for Ledang is, the for the same. Now, the Malay votes are
Chinese make up the majority of vot- “I will choose based on three criteria going to be broken into four factions,
ers there at 49%, with the Malays at — race, religion and party,” said a Malay as Pejuang will also be here, although I
45%.Therefore,Tangkak has been a PH pakcik in his late 60s. don’t think they will be making a dent.
stronghold over the past two terms.
“First, we look at the race of the can- “So, it is still among the three major
“We see in the major towns of didates. If there are only one Malay can- coalitions. I am hoping for the incum-
Tangkak and Bukit Gambir, these are didate, then I will vote for him.” bency advantage to come in and they will
our voters. For us to win the seat, we vote for PH,” said Syed Ibrahim.
have to ensure that we get between 70% “If all candidates are Malays (therefore
Muslims), then I will choose the party that

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JOHOR BAHRU (Nov 14):The Light Rail Kelana Jaya LRT that the safety aspect is visible and prioritised
Transit (LRT) services for the Kelana Jaya line running “I have also asked the Land PublicTrans-
line has been running smoothly since it re- smoothly,
sumed operation early on Monday (Nov saysWee port Agency (APAD) to send its team to
14) morning, saidTransport Minister Da- check on safety as there is a need to intervene
tuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong. Bernama as soon as possible to protect users,” he said.

He, however, said the Rapid Rail technical On a separate matter,Wee said the air-
team and original equipment manufacturer lines in the country have been asked to
(OEM)Thales Group will continue to monitor increase their flight frequencies, especial-
the LRT line for a few more days to ensure that ly at midnight during the festive season.
any improvements can be made immediately.
“I have asked the Malaysian Aviation
He added that Prasarana Malaysia Bhd Commission (Mavcom) and the Malay-
will also update the development of the sian Civil Aviation Authority (CAAM) to
LRT service from time to time. increase the frequency of flights for passen-
gers to reduce the burden on people, espe-
“This morning, I received a report from cially during the festive season,” he said.
Prasarana Group chief executive officer
Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah on the lat-
est status of the LRT line, saying that the
trains have been moving smoothly and no
problems were detected so far,” he told
reporters after visiting the Johor Bahru
Ancient Temple here on Monday.

Wee was commenting on the status of
the Kelana Jaya LRT line, which resumed
operations on Monday following the five-
day shutdown involving 16 stations from
Kelana Jaya to Ampang Park since Nov 9.

He said the LRT line resumed full op-
eration from 6am on Monday morning,
which was two days earlier than the sev-
en-day suspension.

“The resumption of LRT service was
much awaited after undergoing testing for
four consecutive days and meetings to ensure

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Covid-19 Covid-19 positive To ensure voting process runs smoothly
positive individuals who will cast their bal- voters must wear and safely, and especially to reduce the risk
lots in the 15th general election (GE15) face masks, says of infection, Dr Noor Hisham said that
must wear face masks, while the use of face Covid-19 positive voters must adhere to
masks for other voters is strongly encour- Health DG safe social distancing, which is also highly
aged, said Health director general Tan Sri encouraged for other voters.
Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. Bernama
He said voters should also use the hand
He said voters who tested positive for sanitiser provided at the polling station, or
Covid-19 are also not allowed to ride in bring their own hand sanitiser.
public vehicles, including e-hailing.
Dr Noor Hisham said individuals who
“[Covid-19 positive voters are not al- have not received a booster dose of the
lowed] to stop by anywhere before and Covid-19 vaccine are advised to immedi-
after voting and must return home imme- ately register and get the vaccine shot, to
diately,” he said in a statement on Mon- protect themselves and those around them.
day (Nov 14).
“Let’s work together to reduce the risk
of Covid-19 infection to voters and staff at
polling stations throughout GE15,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham also shared an info-
graphic on general advice to GE15 voters
to reduce the risk of the spread of Covid-19
infection, on his Facebook page on Sunday.

He said that healthcare workers would
be stationed at polling centres to help
smooth the affairs of Covid-19 positive
voters. Voters are advised to obey the di-
rectives issued.

The Election Commission (EC) has set
Tuesday (Nov 15) for early voting, and
polling day on Nov 19.

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(Nov 14):The one constant in digital assets Crypto.com’s a peak of more than US$22 billion at the
right now is fear and its latest object is Cryp- sinking token stirs height of the digital-asset craze in November
to.com, an exchange whose sponsorship of fresh anxiety after last year, according CoinGecko.
sports like Formula One racing and the soc-
cerWorld Cup have popularised its brand. FTX wipeout Crypto.com, like many other exchanges
and investors operating in the sector, has
The anxiety stems from a question that by Sidhartha Shukla & Suvashree Ghosh been buffeted this year’s deep rout in vir-
barrelled out of the disorderly collapse into Bloomberg tual coins and is among companies that
bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto have reduced their workforce.
exchange FTX: namely, who else is really a high volume of withdrawals, which it is
safe? Such worries, well-founded or not, con- handling without any issues,” said Hayden The exchange, whose app is available in a
tributed to a US$1 billion slide in Crypto. Hughes, chief executive of social-trading range of countries, shot to popularity after an
com’s native token Cronos in the past week. platform Alpha Impact. He added that in advertising campaign fronted by Matt Damon.
the wake of FTX, many people are looking Apart from sponsoring motor racing and the
The platform’s Chief Executive Officer to take custody of their own funds. FIFA soccer World Cup in Qatar, it also ac-
Kris Marszalek took pains on Monday to No loans quired the naming rights for the Staples Center
reassure customers, saying in a live-streamed Marszalek reiterated that Crypto.com has — home to the Los Angeles Lakers and Clip-
briefing that its balance sheet is “very strong” 70 million users and less than US$10 mil- pers — and restyled it as the Crypto.comArena.
and reserves cover all client assets. lion exposure to FTX. He also said that the Please expect a full audited Proof of Reserves
Cronos token is never used as collateral for from us in the next couple of weeks, confirm-
“People are depositing, people are loans.The coin climbed in the wake of the ing the full 1:1 reserve of all customer assets.
withdrawing, people are trading,” he said. briefing, pushing it to a gain of about 4% — Kris | Crypto.com (@kris) Nov 11,
“There is pretty much normal activity, just in the past 24 hours as of 11:30 a.m. in 2022
at a heightened level.” London, based on CoinGecko data.
Marszalek has previously said that he ex-
Hanging over the event was the revelation The coin is the eponymously-named util- pects to release an audited “proof of reserves”
that the exchange in October accidentally ity token on the Cronos blockchain. Holders in coming days to show that customer assets
transferred and then recovered almost US$400 of the token enjoy loyalty and usage bonuses are intact. Pledges of such releases are mul-
million of the token Ether. Earlier in the year, like discounted trading fees. Its market value tiplying among crypto platforms, in an effort
Crypto.com sent about A$10.5 million (US$7 has plunged to less than US$2 billion from to assuage the doubts plaguing the industry.
million) to a woman in Melbourne by mistake
and is seeking to get the funds back. Read also: FTX.com does not operate
in Singapore, MAS clarifies
Such twists are harder to stomach when the
crypto sector is asking whether retail and in-
stitutional investors alike will desert in droves,
following the chaotic toppling of FTX and its
sister trading house Alameda Research.

“Crypto.com appears to be experiencing

SYDNEY (Nov 14): The distress spread Bitcoin splits from “That idea of using crypto as a high-beta
across cryptocurrencies by the meltdown global markets to play on risk is fading, because there are easier
of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX is fractur- slide all on its own ways to play that elsewhere that don’t suffer
ing the link the tokens once had with other from the same systemic risk,” said ChrisWest-
financial assets, a sign that bitcoin's influ- by Garfield Reynolds on, head of research at Pepperstone Group.
ence on global markets may be diminishing. Bloomberg “This is a structural issue, it’s about the ac-
tual architecture of the crypto system and
Bitcoin dropped 23% last week, its worst broader market sentiment damped by com- the confidence you can have in that.Who’s
tumble since June, at the same time as the ments from US Federal Reserve governor next is the question on many people’s lips.”
S&P 500 Index soared 5.9%.That helped Christopher Waller that policymakers had
weaken the correlation between the two to "ways to go" with interest-rate hikes. The idea that bitcoin can form a worth-
the lowest this year, based on a 20-day study. while part of a diversified portfolio of risk as-
The performance gap between bitcoin and sets is fraying, with massive losses generated
the Nasdaq has hit the widest since 2020. by the revelation that even FTX, until recently
considered one of the most blue-chip names
And while major cryptocurrencies turned in crypto, was unsound.That is a far cry from
higher on Monday, the gains did little to lift the optimism at the start of this year, when
Bridgewater estimated that 5% of bitcoin was
held by institutional-level investors.

The latest crypto rout came as investors
were already souring on the space and as
declines in prices shrank the footprint of
virtual currencies.

Read the full story

Read also: Big investors are giving up on
crypto markets going mainstream

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HONG KONG (Nov 14): November’s Chinese stocks whether policies remain stable.”
stellar rebound in Chinese stocks got an- storm into bull Overseas investors piled a net 16.6 bil-
other fillip on Monday as plans for a sweep- market on Covid-19,
ing rescue package to bail out developers property shifts lion yuan (RM10.8 billion) into China eq-
sent property stocks rallying. uities via trading links with Hong Kong on
by Shikhar Balwani Monday, the biggest purchase since De-
Along with Friday’s easing of some Cov- Bloomberg cember 2021.That is on top of a net 14.7
id-19 controls, the property measures gave billion yuan they bought on Friday.
traders confidence that Beijing is finally market. That said, the milestone may be
taking concrete steps to tackle the two big- less relevant than usual given this year’s Financial regulators issued a 16-point
gest sore points for the economy and mar- high volatility and the fact the gauge is still plan to boost the real estate market, with
kets — Covid Zero and the property crisis. down more than 25% this year. measures that range from addressing
developers’ liquidity crisis to loosening
Pessimism has soon given way to op- “Shifts on two major policies — Cov- down-payment requirements for home-
timism as Chinese stocks seek to emerge id control and real estate — will boost buyers, according to people familiar with
from a rout that slashed their weightings investor mood in the short term, given the matter.
in global portfolios and made them the the extreme pessimism in markets,” said
world’s worst performers. Frenzied buy- Shen Meng, a director at Beijing-based Shares of Country Garden Holdings
ing amid a fear of missing out on the rally investment bank Chanson & Co. “Yet, Co, China’s largest property company,
has sent one measure of volatility in the market performance in the longer term jumped a record 55% in Hong Kong be-
Hang Seng China Enterprises Index to depends on execution of policies and fore ending almost 46% higher. Still, it
the highest globally. was the top gainer on the Hang Seng Chi-
na gauge. A Bloomberg Intelligence index of
The Hang Seng China gauge opened builders’ shares surged almost 19% intra-
4.6% higher on Monday before ending day, the most ever. Developer bonds also
the session up nearly 2%. It has now risen soared.
21% from a recent low on Oct 31, meeting
the common definition of a technical bull Further, China will give qualified prop-
erty developers access to as much as 30%
of pre-sale funds, Bloomberg News reported
after the close of markets in Hong Kong,
citing a statement posted on the banking
and insurance regulator’s website.
Read the full story
Read also:
Chinese cities including Beijing report
record Covid cases
China lets developers access pre-sale
funds to ease cash crunch

WASHINGTON (Nov 14): The global IMF says global territory earlier this year to levels that sig-
economic outlook is even gloomier than economic outlook nal contraction,” the IMF said, adding that
projected last month, the International getting ‘gloomier’, global fragmentation added to “a conflu-
Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Sunday, ence of downside risks.”
citing a steady worsening in purchasing risks abound
manager surveys in recent months. “The challenges that the global econ-
by Andrea Shalal omy is facing are immense and weaken-
It blamed the darker outlook on tight- Reuters ing economic indicators point to further
ening monetary policy triggered by per- challenges ahead,” the IMF said, adding
sistently high and broad-based inflation, It said recent purchasing manager in- that the current policy environment was
weak growth momentum in China, and dices that gauge manufacturing and ser- “unusually uncertain”.
ongoing supply disruptions and food in- vices activity signaled weakness in most
security caused by Russia’s invasion of Group of 20 major economies, with eco- A worsening energy crisis in Europe
Ukraine. nomic activity set to contract while infla- would severely harm growth and raise
tion remained stubbornly high. inflation, while prolonged high inflation
The global lender last month cut its could prompt larger-than-anticipated pol-
global growth forecast for 2023 to 2.7% “Readings for a growing share of G20 icy interest hikes and further tightening of
from a previous forecast of 2.9%. countries have fallen from expansionary global financial conditions.

In a blog prepared for a summit of G20 That in turn posed “increasing risks of
leaders in Indonesia, the IMF said recent a sovereign debt crisis for vulnerable econ-
high-frequency indicators “confirm that omies”, the IMF said.
the outlook is gloomier”, particularly in
Europe. Increasingly severe weather events would
also harm growth across the globe, it said.

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TOKYO (Nov 14): Britain and the euro- US may skirt Next year, Morgan Stanley predicts a
zone economies are likely to tip into re- recession in 2023, sharp split between developed economies
cession next year, Morgan Stanley said, “in or near recession” while emerging econ-
but the US might make a narrow escape Europe not so omies “recover modestly” but said an overall
thanks to a resilient job market. lucky — Morgan global pickup would likely remain elusive.
China’s economy was predicted to grow 5%
At the same time, China’s expected reo- Stanley in 2023, outpacing the average 3.7% growth
pening after almost three years of Covid-19 expected for emerging markets, while the av-
curbs is set to lead a recovery in its own by Kevin Buckland erage growth in the Group of 10 developed
economy and other emerging Asian mar- Reuters countries was forecast at just 0.3%.
kets, the investment bank’s analysts said
in a series of reports published on Sunday. reuters Central banks across the globe have
raised interest rates this year to curb rag-
“Risks are to the downside,” the re- ing inflation, and in the US, Morgan Stan-
ports said, projecting the global economy ley predicted the Federal Reserve to keep
to grow by 2.2% next year, lower than the rates high in 2023 as inflation remains
International Monetary Fund’s latest 2.7% strong after peaking in the fourth quarter
growth estimate. of this year.

“The US economy just skirts recession
in 2023, but the landing doesn’t feel so soft
as job growth slows meaningfully and the
unemployment rate continues to rise,” the
report said, predicting a 0.5% expansion
next year.

“The cumulative effect of tight policy
in 2023 spills over into 2024, resulting in
two very weak years,” the report added.

Globally too, the peak in inflation
should come in the current quarter, the
analysts said, “with disinflation driving the
narrative next year”.

Read also: Goldman Sachs sees signifi-
cant decline in US inflation next year

LONDON (Nov 14): OPEC reduced its OPEC cuts oil World markets have been in surplus for
forecasts for global oil demand again, as demand outlook much of this year, with the daily supply
the group implements production cutbacks as it starts to curb excess ballooning to 1.1 million barrels
aimed at keeping markets in balance. last quarter.The average overhang for the
production year will be 300,000 barrels a day, accord-
Due to a weaker economic backdrop ing to the report.
and China’s strict anti-Covid measures, by Grant Smith
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Bloomberg OPEC expects that it will need to pump
Countries lowered estimates for the amount an average of 28.92 million barrels a day of
of crude it will need to pump this quarter member Russia in its invasion of Ukraine crude to satisfy demand during the fourth
by 520,000 barrels a day, following a sim- by keeping oil prices high. quarter, it said.
ilar-sized downgrade a month ago.
Market trends since then have given While that’s roughly 574,000 barrels a day
This means the supply cut of 2 million OPEC’s decision some vindication, with less than its 13 members produced in Octo-
barrels a day agreed by the group and its prices remaining broadly steady near ber, the surplus should be whittled away —
allies last month — drawing fierce criticism US$95 a barrel, even as demand signals and possibly turned into a deficit —- as the or-
from US President Joe Biden — should gyrate.While China — the world’s biggest ganiaation and its allies implement their cuts.
bring output down to levels that balance oil importer — has amended some restric-
markets, even if the reductions are not fully tions aimed at eliminating Covid outbreaks, Only part of the agreed supply reduction
implemented, the report indicated. the government says these are a refinement is expected to be implemented, with Mid-
and not relaxation of its policy. dle East heavyweights Saudi Arabia and the
“The significant uncertainty regarding the United Arab Emirates shouldering the biggest
global economy, accompanied by fears of a Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz burden. Other members have little obliga-
global recession, contribute to the downside bin Salman, speaking at the COP27 climate tion to cut because they are already produc-
risk for lowering global oil demand growth,” talks in Egypt, reiterated last week that the ing below their output quotas due to years
OPEC’sVienna-based research department OPEC+ alliance will remain “cautious” in of under-investment or political instability.
said in its monthly report. China’s Covid-zero its production policy.
policy “adds to this uncertainty”. The report indicated that demand will
rebound seasonally in the first quarter of
Biden slammed Saudi Arabia and its next year, reviving the need for OPEC’s
partners after they announced the cuts last crude.The full 23-nation OPEC+ alliance
month, accusing Riyadh of endangering the will meet to consider production policy for
global economy and abetting fellow OPEC+ early 2023 on Dec 4 in Vienna.

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Biden meets Xi as Asia allies look
to lower temperature

reuters

by Josh Wingrove & Justin Sink
Bloomberg

(Nov 14): Joe Biden and Xi Jinping shook US President Joe Biden shaking hands with China's Xi Jinping, as they met on the sidelines
hands on Monday (Nov 14) to kick off the of the Group of 20 Leaders' Summit in Bali, Indonesia on Monday (Nov 14).
first in-person meeting between the presi-
dents of the US and China since the Cov- Biden separately used a summit in Cam- somewhat simply by planning for the meet-
id-19 pandemic began, with both calling bodia with the 10-member Association of ing with their Chinese counterparts, a pro-
for reduced tensions between the world’s Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to firm cess that’s taken about a month.
largest economies. up relationships in a region where China
is by far the top trading partner. Xi was under some pressure at home to
The two men met shortly after 5.30pm look tough, particularly in the run-up to a
local time on the sidelines of the Group of 20 While US officials declined to spell out twice-a-decade Communist Party meeting
summit in Bali, Indonesia.They were expect- any specific outcomes they expect from the in October, at which he secured a third term
ed to talk for at least two hours, after which meeting with Xi, they said he would seek in office — and potentially more.
Biden plans to hold a news conference. to set guardrails around a relationship that
had deteriorated since Biden took office — On top of the sensitivities overTaiwan, the
“Good to see you,” Biden said to Xi, be- bringing the two countries perilously close US and China have also been divided over
fore they joined US and Chinese officials. to economic or even military conflict. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and US efforts
The two sides sat at long conference tables to deny Beijing access to advanced semicon-
with a display of flowers between them. Taiwan has become the biggest flash- ductors that are key to dominating technolo-
point between the countries. China broke gies that will drive growth in the 21st century.
“We share responsibility in my view to off many routine contacts with the US ear-
show that China and the US can manage lier this year, after House of Representatives Biden seeks to build a floor under the
our differences, prevent competition from be- Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a visit to the relationship, and increase communications
coming anything ever near a conflict, and to self-governing island. Biden has repeatedly responsibly and practically, US officials said
find ways to work together on urgent global promised that the US would defendTaiwan on Monday, speaking on condition of ano-
issues that require our mutual cooperation,” in the event of a Chinese attack. nymity ahead of the meeting.They framed
Biden said at the start of the meeting. the meeting as the first serious, in-person
‘Red lines’ US-China diplomacy in years.
“The world expects, I believe, China and “We have very little misunderstanding,”
the US to play key roles in addressing glob- Biden told reporters on Sunday in Cam- Any move to calm tensions would be
al challenges from climate changes to food bodia. “We’ve just got to figure out where welcomed in Asia, where many governments
insecurity, and for us to be able to work the red lines are, and what are the most im- saw Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan as an unneces-
together,” Biden added. “The US stands portant things to each of us going into the sary provocation. US allies and partners
ready to do just that, working with you — next two years.” including South Korea, Japan and Taiwan
if that’s what you desire.” have also failed to fully endorse Biden’s ef-
US officials said negotiations about the forts to deny China advanced chip technol-
Xi told Biden, “It’s good to see you.” meeting’s format went late into the night on ogy, a move Beijing has said was intended
“Currently, the China-US relationship is Sunday, predicting a highly scripted affair. to maintain American “hegemony”.
in such a situation that we all care a lot about The two men met at the Chinese delegation’s Read also:
it, because this is not the fundamental interest hotel, and the Chinese side required exten- US president unveils investments in
of our two countries and peoples, and it’s not sive precautions against Covid-19, including Indonesia carbon capture, transport
what the international community expects of PCR tests for the virus and N95 masks for
us,” Xi said, through a translator. He said the US journalists accompanying Biden. For host Indonesia, a G20 summit
two sides “need to find the right direction” dogged by Russia-Ukraine rancour
and “elevate the relationship”. Xi has left his country only twice since
“A statesman should think about and the pandemic began.
know where to lead his country. He should
also think about and know how to get along Senior Biden administration officials
with other countries and the wider world,” said on Monday that relations had warmed
Xi told Biden.“Humanity is confronted with
unprecedented challenges.The world expects
that China and the US will properly handle
the relationship.”

Prelude in Cambodia
Before meeting Xi, Biden talked with the
leaders of Japan, South Korea and Austral-
ia on Sunday, which White House officials
described as a prelude to the much-antic-
ipated gathering with the Chinese leader.
The president explained his approach, and
asked the US allies their concerns.

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(Nov 14): Japan’s biggest banks announced Japan’s megabanks near zero for the foreseeable future.
plans to boost shareholder returns, includ- plan US$2.5 bil Sumitomo Mitsui chief executive officer
ing buy-backs of as much as ¥350 billion buy-backs on
(US$2.5 billion or RM11.43 billion), as profit beat Jun Ohta said loan demand from overseas
global rates hikes spurred an increase in clients grew, as they sought to secure funds
income from loans that helped earnings by Taiga Uranaka & Komaki Ito before further rate rises, though he sig-
beat analyst estimates. Bloomberg nalled that the pace of growth may slow. Ri-
val MUFG, which last month said it plans
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc bloomberg to accelerate lending to global funds and
(MUFG) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial other institutional investors in the US, also
Group Inc both said they will buy back pointed to a boost from overseas growth.
shares, while Mizuho Financial Group Inc
upped a dividend forecast. Sumitomo Mitsui has been deepening
an expansion overseas, with a deal to in-
The actions underscored how a push to crease its stake in a bank in the Philippines,
expand overseas was paying off as interest while starting an online lending venture in
rates rose, helping to offset ballooning pa- the US to counter slower growth in Japan.
per losses on foreign bond holdings that
widened to almost ¥4 trillion. Still, paper losses on foreign bond hold-
ings widened, as yields on US Treasur-
Japan’s largest banks were gaining ies and other securities continued to rise,
from dollar revenues, after the currency’s though the banks managed to partly offset
rise this year against the yen. US lending the impact with hedges.
as well as bond trading are now acting
as a counterweight, with more than half “Overall, it’s solid results,” Mizuho
of the outstanding loans at the nation’s CEO Masahiro Kihara said. “But for the
mega banks still denominated in yen. Ja- rest of this fiscal year and the next, uncer-
pan’s interest rate is expected to remain tain situations will continue, and we will
be on alert,” he said.

(Nov 14): HSBC Holdings plc has big HSBC opens new pressure by its largest shareholder to move
plans to ramp up in Singapore to build up Singapore office more quickly or spin off its more profitable
international corporate and wealth bank- with substantial Asian operations.
ing, as it expands its Asia footprint outside
its regional hub in Hong Kong. growth plans The bank’s new office comprises
more than 140,000 sq ft. It has an about
As he opened the new Singapore head- by Chanyaporn Chanjaroen 4,000-strong local workforce, a 16% in-
quarters on Monday (Nov 14) on the top Bloomberg crease from 2019, after its US$529 mil-
floors of the 50-storey Marina Bay Finan- lion (RM2.43 billion) purchase of local
cial CentreTower 2, chief executive officer Standard Chartered plc, as well as regional insurance operations.
Noel Quinn said the city state is a “critical” lenders led by DBS Group Holdings Ltd.
market for Europe’s biggest bank.“We have The bank aims to double its wealth
every ambition to grow our business sub- The bank has expanded its asset man- business in Singapore by 2025, and is
stantially here in Singapore,” he said. “We agement coverage, adding a manufacturing targeting double-digit growth in its local
know there is very strong competition.” function to its distribution, and increased commercial banking business, according
coverage to key markets including Malay- to a release.
The lender, based in London, also re- sia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philip-
vealed that it had moved its Southeast Asian pines. It’s scaling back operations in Eu- The firm has earmarked US$6 billion
markets team for rates and currencies and rope and the US, and has come under for investments over five years from 2021,
its book to Singapore, without saying from half of which is going to South and South-
where. Quinn is pushing the bank to pivot east Asia. Its major businesses in Asia are in
to Asia, where the bank makes the bulk of Hong Kong, with a headcount of 28,000,
its revenue in competition against both in- and mainland China with 35,000 employ-
ternational firms such as Citigroup Inc and ees, according to the bank’s 2021 annual
report.

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bloomberg Toyota to unveil Toyota will unveil the new Prius on
new Prius as Wednesday at an event in Tokyo. Official
Indonesia Investment Authority chief tweets from the car-maker, as well as other
executive officer Ridha Wirakusumah. hybrids lose luster images floating around, suggest a sportier
to battery EVs look.The tagline “Hybrid Reborn” is being
Indonesia to set used. MotorTrend even asks: “Is the next-
up US$2 bil EV by Reed Stevenson gen Toyota Prius actually kind of hot?”
fund with China’s Bloomberg
To a certain extent, it probably does not
CATL, CMB TOKYO (Nov 14): Toyota Motor Corp matter whether the new Prius becomes
International is about to take the wraps off a revamped a top-selling model again. Sure, Toyota
Prius, the latest iteration of a car that nor- would like that, but hybrid technology is
by Gayatri Suroyo malised the idea of owning an environmen- now spread across its product line, includ-
& Stefanno Sulaiman tally conscious vehicle more than two dec- ing the Lexus brand.
ades ago.
Reuters And electric vehicles (EVs) have become
Leonardo de Caprio drove one. Own- the next hot thing. Upstarts and legacy orig-
JAKARTA (Nov 14):The Indonesia In- ing a Prius was cool, even a status symbol, inal equipment manufacturers have taken
vestment Authority (INA), the coun- and the less-frequent and cheaper trips control of the narrative, whipping up expecta-
try’s sovereign wealth fund, is to set up that owners made to the gas pump were tions that the fully electric era is now upon us.
a green electric vehicle (EV) fund of at revelatory. Over the years, hybrid drive-
least US$2 billion (RM9.18 billion) trains found their way into other Toyota While almost everyone agrees that EVs
with China’s battery maker CATL and products. Other car-makers rolled out the are the future, the big question is when.
CMB International, the fund’s chief ex- technology, making it a routine aspect of Some argue it is already here. Others, in-
ecutive officer said on Monday. driving for millions. cluding Toyota, have been penalised, in
terms of public opinion and the stock mar-
The announcement was made in a Even though the gas-sipping hatchback ket, for saying that it is probably still ways
live-streamed business conference on — with its combined combustion engine, off. But keep in mind that of the 70.6 mil-
the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit. electric motor, and battery powertrain — lion vehicles sold worldwide in 2021, only
paved the way for Teslas and other fully 4.5 million were battery-electric, according
INA CEO RidhaWirakusumah then electric vehicles, it is the less-hip option to data compiled by BloombergNEF.
signed an agreement for the partnership these days.
with company executives from CATL Meanwhile,Toyota is still tweaking with
and CMB International. Prius sales have tapered off during the the hybrid formula, one that it believes
past few years. After peaking in 2010, when will be an important bridge to an all-EV
The fund will invest in the EV value more than 500,000 units were sold world- future. The Crown, a higher-end model
chain to capture a market that is ex- wide, there has been a gradual slide. Cus- that is being introduced to the US mar-
pected to grow fast globally, driven by tomers bought just short of 86,000 Priuses ket after selling for decades in Japan, fea-
countries’ pledges to reduce greenhouse last year. OtherToyota hybrids, such as the tures what the car-maker is calling Hybrid
gas emissions, Ridha said. RAV4, did more volume. Max.The new drivetrain combines an tur-
bo-equipped engine, two electric motors,
“With CATL and CMB International But consider this:Toyota has sold 4.75 and a six-speed transmission. It is a hybrid
as the main partners, we are looking for million Priuses to date. That is no easy that feels like a muscle car.
limited partners to invest in the green EV feat. Tesla only just passed the three mil-
fund, to seize this EV value chain oppor- lion mark for cumulative production of Will the new Prius have the same tech-
tunity primarily in Indonesia,” Ridha said. all its vehicles: the Roadster, Model S, X, nology? Maybe. Will Toyota continue to
3, andY. bet on the Prius and hybrids? Definitely.
Indonesia’s own EV market is on Read also: Tesla denies malfunction to
track to grow, with 2.1 million electric blame for deadly crash caught on video
motorcycles and 400,000 electric cars in China
expected to be sold by 2025, Ridha said.

Indonesia is keen to develop its own
EV and battery industries at home, after
banning exports of nickel ore to ensure
supply for investors since 2020.

Earlier this year, CATL announced
a US$6 billion power battery project in
Indonesia, in partnership with Indone-
sian companies.

t u e s d a y N O V E M B E R 1 5 , 2 0 2 2 28 T h e E d g e C E O m o r n i n g b r i e f

HONOURING MALAYSIA’S
BEST PERFORMERS IN
ESG EXCELLENCE

FULL RESULTS TO BE REVEALED SOON

INTRODUCING THE INAUGURAL

In Collaboration With

Main Partner Knowledge Partner Auditor Official
(Funds Category) Broadcast Partner

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bloomberg can be profitable.Then it needs to show that Sri Lanka
it is able to launch more hit games to drive proposes lower
Fall of the world’s the growth in the gaming segment. It is not budget deficit to
hottest stock cost conclusive for now.” clinch IMF loan

Sea founders Li is among the billionaires whose wealth by Anusha Ondaatjie, Ronojoy
US$32 bil surged at an eye-popping rate during Covid Mazumdar, Pradeep Kurup
before crashing as the world moved on from & Asantha Sirimanne
by Yoojung Lee the pandemic. Zoom Video Communica- Bloomberg
Bloomberg tions Inc. founder EricYuan, the father-son
duo behind used-car dealer Carvana Co and COLOMBO (Nov 14): Sri Lanka
(Nov 14): Sea Ltd’s pain was supposed to Stephane Bancel, Moderna Inc’s CEO, saw pledged to boost tax revenues and
be short term. similar declines in fortunes. reduce the budget deficit in 2023,
as the South Asian nation seeks to
The maker of wildly successful battle A native of Tianjin, China, Li moved to wean its economy away from pop-
royale game Free Fire knew that the pan- Singapore after finishing an MBA at Stan- ulist policies and lock down bailout
demic-fuelled boost in users was over, but ford University and founded Sea — then funds from the International Mone-
chief executive officer Forrest Li (pic) was called Garena — as an online games pro- tary Fund.
still optimistic earlier this year that prob- vider in 2009.
lems would be short lived. He considered The government will target reve-
his company to be internally strong and had Emboldened by the global success of Free nue of 3.4 trillion rupees (US$9.27
taken steps to maximise long-term poten- Fire, the company branched out into e-com- billion), up 63% from the current
tial — including spending more on growth. merce. Its Shopee platform is now driving year, President RanilWickremesinghe
growth, accounting for more than half of said in a speech Monday. Sri Lanka
Instead, Sea is now dealing with an eco- the US$2.9 billion in second-quarter reve- plans to limit the increase in spend-
nomic slowdown and surging inflation, as nue. In late 2020, Sea won a digital-banking ing to 31% year-on-year, according
well as intensifying competition and a broad- license in Singapore to accelerate its push to budget documents he presented.
er tech sell-off.The gaming and e-commerce into financial technology.
giant has slashed jobs, shuttered operations That will help narrow the fiscal
in some European and Latin American mar- But soon came a series of setbacks, just deficit to 7.9% of gross domestic
kets and reduced expenses. as Sea’s expansion led to mounting losses. product from an estimated 9.8%
In January, Tencent Holdings Ltd, its big- in the current year. The proposals
After a brief moment last year as Sin- gest backer, trimmed its stake and India on Monday, which build on inter-
gapore’s richest person with a US$22 bil- announced the following month it would im measures announced in August,
lion fortune, Li’s wealth has plummeted, ban Free Fire. Shopee pulled out from the pegged gross foreign borrowing at
according to the Bloomberg Billionaires In- market, as well as from France and Argen- one trillion rupees.
dex. He’s now worth just a little more than tina, among others.
US$3 billion as Sea shares have slid 87% “The purpose of the interim
from their peak. Co-founders GangYe and A Sea representative declined to com- budget proposals was to lay the ba-
David Chen are down a combined US$13.5 ment for this story. sic foundation for transforming the
billion, withYe’s wealth — once US$12 bil- economic pattem that has existed so
lion — now about US$2 billion and Chen While Li was still optimistic in March, far in our country,” saidWickremes-
no longer a billionaire. he’s since changed his tone. He conceded in inghe, who also doubles as the coun-
September that the current difficulties were try’s finance minister. “The process
Along with other top executives, the three not a “quickly passing storm,” and are likely of building a new economy suita-
have given up their salaries until the compa- to persist into the medium term. ble for the modem world would be
ny reaches “self-sufficiency”, without spec- started through the budget propos-
ifying when that might be. With weaker gaming demand and als 2023.”
Shopee’s reduced reach, analysts estimate
It’s a stark reversal for what once was the Sea’s adjusted loss before interest, taxes, Wickremesinghe is trying to meet
world’s hottest stock. Now analysts estimate depreciation and amortization will widen conditions for securing a US$2.9 bil-
Sea’s quarterly loss will widen when it posts to US$453.6 million in the third quarter, lion IMF bailout — a key step toward
results on Nov 15. data compiled by Bloomberg show. Revenue pulling the nation out of its worst
is projected to grow to US$3 billion from economic crisis in decades.The IMF
“Challenges are abundant,” said KeYan, US$2.7 billion a year earlier. funds would also help Colombo se-
head of research at Singapore-based DZT cure other lines of credit for Sri Lan-
Research. “It has to prove that e-commerce Ark Investment Management’s Cathy ka, which nearly ran out of foreign
Wood is among those who have exited: exchange reserves this year, leading
Three of her funds have been offloading Sea to a sovereign debt default, paralysing
shares, with just one still holding the stock. shortages and Asia’s fastest inflation.

While the cost cuts show the company Read the full story
has put a new focus on profitability, inves-
tors will scrutinise Sea more closely than its
regional peers because it’s a more mature
business, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst
Nathan Naidu. Sea has been publicly traded
since 2017, while ride-hailing and delivery
firm Grab Holdings Ltd and Indonesia’s
biggest tech company, GoTo Group, only
listed in the past year.

“Investors are potentially starting to look
at Sea as less of a growth stock,” Naidu
said. “There’s a lot more pressure on Sea
to achieve profits.”

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China’s big tech
becomes target for
investors fearing

missing out

by Sofia Horta e Costa
Bloomberg

(Nov 14): What do you do when China’s Guangzhou serve as a reminder that the deter- declines continuing. Markets are underpricing
fast-moving markets offer investors a taste of mination to eliminate Covid-19 is still stifling a potential Covid zero exit, according to 48%
the rebound they’ve been longing for? Buy the consumption and hammering the economy. of respondents. Some 46% said markets are
country’s beaten-down technology stocks. too enthusiastic about a reopening.
But when Chinese markets rally, they do
BigTech is the most-favored Chinese sec- it with gusto. Short-covering and momen- Beijing’s virus-containment policy is seen
tor by institutional and retail respondents in tum-chasing have been the major drivers of as both the biggest potential catalyst for gains
the latest MLIV Pulse survey, with 42% of the country’s equities over the past three weeks, and a top risk to Chinese markets next year,
244 investors also saying they plan to increase with mainland-based investors also snapping underscoring how central it’s become to the
their exposure to the country in the next year. up bargains in Hong Kong.That’s even as big outlook. Goldman Sachs Group Inc says re-
names likeTiger Global Management throw in opening would trigger a 20% gain in Chi-
Chalk it up to a fear of missing out. The the towel on China and reduce their allocations. nese equities.
wider the gap between the share price and
metrics such as earnings and sales, the greater On Monday, Chinese stocks and the yuan In a potentially telling development, Chi-
the potential for gains when good news lands, rose after the country’s financial regulators is- na last week cut quarantine for inbound trav-
the logic goes. That’s playing out this month sued a 16-point directive to support the proper- elers and scrapped the so-called circuit break-
amid signs that China may have started to piv- ty industry, a sign authorities are serious about er system that penalizes airlines for bringing
ot away from its Covid-zero policy, with wide- addressing a crisis that’s been a key drag on virus cases into the country.The new Polit-
ly-followed stocks like Alibaba Group Holding markets and economic growth. buro Standing Committee recently said the
Ltd showing intraday surges of 20%. country needed to stick with the Covid zero
It’s no surprise that stocks can be deemed policy, but that officials also needed to be
There’s plenty of room for a rebound.The cheap.The Golden Dragon gauge trades at less more targeted with their restrictions.
Hang SengTech Index and the Nasdaq Golden than 15 times its members’ projected earnings,
Dragon China Index of US-listed companies a 34% discount to its average of the past 10 High interest rates will be the main risk
are down about 70% since peaking in Feb- years. Investors will get more clarity on the for international financial markets next year,
ruary 2021. That’s worse than any of the 92 health of corporate China in the coming weeks, according to a majority of investors, followed
benchmarks tracked by Bloomberg. In Septem- with bellwethers like Alibaba, JD.com Inc and by a slowdown in China. A global recession
ber alone, funds sold US$33 billion of Chi- Pinduoduo Inc due to report results. was also among concerns cited by respondents.
nese tech stocks, according to a recent note Read also: China’s wind industry is calling
by Morgan Stanley quants. Nearly a half of market participants who for a massive offshore boom
responded to the survey expect US-listed Chi-
To be clear though, nothing fundamental nese shares to recoup some of the losses by the
has changed for the tech industry.There’s lit- end of the year. Fewer than a fifth of them saw
tle evidence that President Xi Jinping will re-
verse his campaign to rein in the country’s tech
giants, and efforts to prevent the delisting of
Chinese stocks from US exchanges are pro-
gressing slowly. Lockdowns in key cities like

HONG KONG (Nov 14): Cathay Pacific Cathay shuts US a major cargo hub. It already closed bases in
Airways Ltd has closed its last overseas out- base, airline’s last the UK, Canada, Germany, Australia, and
post, bringing some US-based pilots back overseas outpost New Zealand after Covid-19 restrictions
to Hong Kong as the airline trims expenses shredded flying schedules.
after being hit hard by the pandemic. by Danny Lee
Bloomberg While Hong Kong has opened its bor-
Cathay’s US pilot bases shut on Oct 31 ders to quarantine-free travel again, Ca-
and some crew will relocate to Hong Kong hub,” Cathay said in an emailed statement. thay expects it will take at least two more
in the coming weeks, according to an inter- “A number” of pilots have relocated to Hong years to fully recover. The airline flew just
nal memo seen by Bloomberg News. More Kong, it said. 16% of pre-pandemic passenger capacity
than 60 US-based employees are leaving the in September, with testing still required on
airline, the memo said. The airline had pilot centres in NewYork, entry into Hong Kong and Cathay’s most
Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Anchorage, significant market — mainland China —
“There are no more overseas pilots bases demanding quarantine on entry, keeping a
as we continue to review all areas of our busi- lid on demand.
ness to ensure we have a focused, efficient,
and competitive business as we continue to Cathay’s shares fell 4.2% in Hong Kong
build back connectivity at the Hong Kong on Monday,their biggest drop in three weeks.

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Baltic Exchange shipping updates

A weekly round-up of tanker and dry bulk market (Nov 11, 2022)

Capesize

Activity in the Capesize market had the 5TC tle fresh enquiry from Indonesia, whilst fur- with some minimal fluctuations. On the LR2s
pushing in value over a few days in midweek. ther north charterers remained firmly in the TC1 bottomed out atWS161 midweek, down
However, pessimism prevailed as the rates driving seat. Little period activity surfaced, al- fromWS179,and has then resurged back up to
dropped down to close the week -895, settling though a 58,000-dwt open Baltic was fixed for WS165.63 with end of week reports ofWS170
at US$12,807. Some chatter in the market ex- four to six months trading redelivery world- andWS172.5 on subjects at the time of writing.
pects an improvement in rates to end the year, wide at US$16,500. A 60,000-dwt open Ko- A trip to the UK-Continent,TC20, has ticked
although this is yet to eventuate. Charterers sichang also fixed for 16 to 18 months trading down from US$3,930,000 to US$3,800,000
out of Brazil and the Atlantic were constantly at US$13,250.As the week progressed, in the across the week. Meanwhile on the LR1s
seen to lower past last done, while market car- Atlantic the only bright spot was the US Gulf TC5 has held in theWS212.5-WS215 range
goes are said to be dwindling in the region.The with increased demand. A 63,000-dwt fixing all week and a voyage west has been pegged
Transatlantic C8 commands a premium over a trip to China at US$30,000. Further north, at the US$3,500,000-US$3,550,000 mark.
theTranspacific C10 yet the gap narrowed sig- a 56,000-dwt was fixed from US east coast to
nificantly this week as they stand at US$16,889 Continent-UK at US$23,000.FromAsia there AG MR freight levels have also been sta-
and US$12,636 respectively. Flurries ofWest was little joy. On the backhaul runs a supramax tionary, seeing the TC17 index only losing
Australia to China C5 fixing was heard mid- was heard to have fixed a trip from China to the an incremental 5.72 points to WS372.14.
week. The reasoning behind the activity was Mediterranean in the mid US$8,000s. From
not heard — although miners were noticeably the south a 58,000-dwt fixed delivery South West of Suez LR2 activity has again
quieter in the later part of the week. Coming China trip via Indonesia redelivery Thailand been muted this week and TC15 has
closer to the Christmas period owners will be at US$8,000. dropped again, settling at US$3,225,000
very aware of the potential seasonal low period Handysize (-US$133,333). By comparison the LR1s
that looms in Q1. On more than one occasion Like the larger sisters the Handy sector also lost have been active and TC16 has climbed
this period has surprised with reasonable activ- traction generally, although some felt that the 14.28 points to WS220.71.
ity. However, all are likely preparing for more Asian arena may have found a plateau. Little
of the same from this market unless some fresh excitement on the period front, but a 38,000- On the UK-Continent MR freight levels
stimulus is forthcoming. dwt open Mediterranean was heard to have began a rush upwards from a burst of activ-
Panamax fixed one year at US$14,500 at the beginning ity early in the week — only to halt just as
The Panamax market sell-off continued in a of the week.The Atlantic lacked fresh impetus. quickly.TC2 rapidly climbed up toWS315
similar vein to the previous week,with all sector From South America, a 37,000-dwt was heard and has then recorrected down toWS306.11.
indices continuing to lose ground. Activity in fixed delivery Santos for aTransatlantic run to Similarly,TC19 rose up to WS324 and has
the northAtlantic — particularly mineral trades the East Mediterranean at US$21,000. Also, then resettled back down to WS314.64.
— were minimal. Meanwhile, activity from a 38,000-dwt fixed delivery Pecem to the US
SouthAmerica to the Far East confined mostly Gulf at US$24,250. Elsewhere, a 37,000-dwt In the US Gulf MRs have been inac-
for end November arrivals. Rates hovered in fixed from the Continent to the Mediterranean tive and there has been plenty of available
the region of US$18,000 and US$800,000, at US$12,000. From Asia, a 38,000-dwt was tonnage. Subsequently, TC14 lost 11.25
and US$19,000 and US$900,000 for 82,000- heard fixed delivery Singapore trip via Austral- points to WS158.75 and TC18 dropped
dwt types.This returned very much a position- ia redelivery Far East in the mid US$9,000s. fromWS269.17 toWS258.75. A run down
al market. In the Pacific, traded volumes were From the Indian Ocean region a 37,000-dwt to the Caribbean, TC21, also shed a little
relatively thin for the longer trips NoPac.Trips fixed delivery Damman trip to South Africa over US$26,000 to US$656,667.
to Japan returned a mixture of rates but ended at US$13,000. Eyes were firmly fixed on the
softer overall.A glut of fixing ex Indonesian to upcoming week to see if this trend continues. The MR Atlantic Triangulation Basket
China was witnessed midweek, predominantly Clean TCE lost US$2602 from US$36,375 to
on smaller/older type tonnage at discounted The Middle East Gulf has been stable this week US$33,373.
levels. It was low teens for the first half of the
week, but closer to US$10,000 and edging On the Handymax, both the Mediter-
lower by week end. Period fixing remained ranean and Baltic have seen significant im-
scarce, but there were reports midweek of an provements.TC6 has jumped 111.25 points
82,000-dwt concluding at US$17,000 for four toWS350 from decreased vessel availability
to six months. andTC9 continued traction up toWS494.29
Ultramax/Supramax (+WS63.22).
A rather poor week for the sector as pressure Read the full report
remained in many areas with a lack of fresh
cargo and a build-up of tonnage. This was
particularly seen in the Asian arena with lit-

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MARKETS

CPO RM 4,112.00 -175.00 OIL US$ 95.01 -0.98 RM/USD 4.5953 RM/SGD 3.3418 RM/AUD 3.0694 RM/GBP 5.4215 RM/EUR 4.7393

Top 20 active stocks

NAME VOLUME CHANGE CLOSE YTD MARKET
(MIL) (RM) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL)

Advance Synergy Bhd 277.79 0.005 0.140 27.27 354.1

Top Glove Corp Bhd 150.94 0.060 1.020 -60.62 8,167.5

TECHNA-X Bhd 76.00 0.005 0.030 -60.00 66.4

Icon Offshore Bhd 75.66 0.010 0.145 38.10 392.2

G3 Global Bhd 48.28 0.005 0.030 -62.50 87.1

Widad Group Bhd 44.86 -0.015 0.385 5.48 1,059.7

Malayan United Industries Bhd 41.17 -0.005 0.090 28.57 290.3

Hextar Industries Bhd 35.16 -0.020 0.560 250.00 642.5

Artroniq Bhd 30.46 0.020 0.620 0.81 197.1 World equity indices

Citaglobal Bhd 28.46 -0.005 0.250 6.38 469.2

Destini Bhd 24.80 -0.005 0.075 -58.33 124.8 CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE

Key Alliance Group Bhd 22.38 0.000 0.010 -33.33 36.8 (%) (%)
DOW JONES 33,747.86 32.49 0.10 INDONESIA 7,019.39 -69.81 -0.98
My EG Services Bhd 22.25 -0.030 0.835 -21.96 6,210.7

Supermax Corp Bhd 22.02 0.035 0.975 -33.67 2,578.7 S&P 500 3,992.93 36.56 0.92 JAPAN 27,963.47 -300.10 -1.06

SYF Resources Bhd 21.34 0.030 0.330 11.86 187.7 NASDAQ 100 11,817.01 211.05 1.82 KOREA 2,474.65 -8.51 -0.34

Bina Puri Holdings BHD 21.26 0.005 0.035 -22.22 55.9 FTSE 100 7,344.15 26.11 0.36 PHILIPPINES 6,354.76 67.99 1.08

UEM Sunrise Bhd 20.87 0.005 0.225 -29.69 1,138.2 AUSTRALIA 7,146.35 -11.61 -0.16 SINGAPORE 3,260.80 32.47 1.01

Kejuruteraan Asastera Bhd 20.23 0.005 0.480 88.24 867.8 CHINA 3,083.40 -3.89 -0.13 TAIWAN 14,174.90 167.34 1.19

Careplus Group Bhd 19.70 0.010 0.525 -49.52 300.6 HONG KONG 17,619.71 294.05 1.70 THAILAND 1,623.38 -13.91 -0.85

NWP Holdings Bhd 19.55 0.005 0.230 -6.12 130.5 INDIA 61,624.15 -170.89 -0.28 VIETNAM 941.04 -13.49 -1.41

Data as compiled on Nov 14, 2022 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Nov 14, 2022 Source: Bloomberg

Top gainers (ranked by %) Top losers (ranked by %)

NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL) (%) (RM MIL)

DGB Asia Bhd 0.020 33.33 203.5 -33.33 35.7 Vsolar Group Bhd 0.005 -50.00 2,321.3 -66.67 24.2

BCM Alliance Bhd 0.025 25.00 320.5 -16.67 50.9 Nexgram Holdings Bhd 0.005 -50.00 3,367.0 -50.00 22.1

Metronic Global Bhd 0.025 25.00 867.8 -79.52 38.3 AT Systematization Bhd 0.010 -33.33 5,044.3 -66.67 60.0

Impiana Hotels Bhd 0.030 20.00 1,338.2 -60.00 43.3 Focus Dynamics Group Bhd 0.015 -25.00 10,641.8 -62.50 95.6

TECHNA-X Bhd 0.030 20.00 75,996.7 -60.00 66.4 Alam Maritim Resources Bhd 0.015 -25.00 2,187.0 -40.00 23.0

G3 Global Bhd 0.030 20.00 48,284.6 -62.50 87.1 Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd 0.020 -20.00 5,390.6 -94.29 74.2

MNC Wireless Bhd 0.160 18.52 8,231.3 6.67 37.1 Sarawak Cable Bhd 0.040 -20.00 767.0 -80.95 16.0

Bina Puri Holdings BHD 0.035 16.67 21,257.2 -22.22 55.9 AE Multi Holdings Bhd 0.020 -20.00 522.3 -33.33 43.3

Iqzan Holding Bhd 0.035 16.67 0.1 -30.00 7.8 Lambo Group BHD 0.045 -18.18 8,072.9 -47.06 69.3

Teladan Setia Group Bhd 1.340 15.52 3,012.0 121.49 1080.2 Sanichi Technology Bhd 0.025 -16.67 1,825.1 0.00 35.1

CSH Alliance Bhd 0.040 14.29 2,755.1 -57.89 55.3 BTM Resources BHD 0.115 -14.81 414.4 -30.30 19.7

Signature International Bhd 2.980 13.74 2,180.3 115.94 863.7 Ivory Properties Group Bhd 0.070 -12.50 260.1 -44.00 34.3

Propel Global Bhd 0.130 13.04 141.8 1200.00 78.6 Dolphin International Bhd 0.035 -12.50 2,591.4 -50.00 46.8

WMG Holdings Bhd 0.100 11.11 220.1 5.26 44.5 Ea Technique M Bhd 0.115 -11.54 3,039.4 43.75 61.0

OCR Group Bhd 0.110 10.00 10,881.7 -24.14 108.9 XOX Technology Bhd 0.040 -11.11 127.8 -20.00 35.7

SYF Resources Bhd 0.330 10.00 21,344.3 11.86 187.7 Advance Information MKT Bhd 0.125 -10.71 833.5 -3.85 33.3

Ewein Bhd 0.335 9.84 839.3 24.07 101.0 Securemetric Bhd 0.085 -10.53 53.0 -22.73 49.0

Imaspro Corp Bhd 5.600 9.80 15.8 125.81 448.0 Saudee Group Bhd 0.045 -10.00 6325.2 -18.18 44.6

Karex Bhd 0.545 9.00 7,583.6 34.57 574.1 Warisan TC Holdings Bhd 1.110 -9.76 1.1 -15.27 72.3

PT Resources Holdings Bhd 0.425 8.97 17936.1 0 227.4 Johan Holdings Bhd 0.050 -9.09 21.1 -41.18 58.4

Data as compiled on Nov 14, 2022 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Nov 14, 2022 Source: Bloomberg

Top gainers (ranked by RM) Top losers (ranked by RM)

NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET
(RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP
(%) (RM MIL) (%) (RM MIL)

BLD Plantation Bhd 9.610 0.580 18.7 6.66 898.5 Nestle Malaysia Bhd 130.200 -1.400 71.2 -2.98 30,531.9

Imaspro Corp Bhd 5.600 0.500 15.8 125.81 448.0 HextarTechnologies Solutions 15.400 -1.100 289.2 513.55 1,981.2

Signature International Bhd 2.980 0.360 2,180.3 115.94 863.7 Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd 25.760 -0.420 76.3 -47.81 5,123.6

Petronas Dagangan Bhd 21.940 0.300 85.7 6.50 21,796.4 Heineken Malaysia Bhd 24.580 -0.320 228.7 17.95 7,425.6

Chin Hin Group Bhd 3.370 0.220 3,295.1 158.24 5,962.9 Batu Kawan Bhd 21.320 -0.240 0.6 -6.08 8,390.7

Teladan Setia Group Bhd 1.340 0.180 3,012.0 121.49 1,080.2 Panasonic Manufacturing MSIA 22.600 -0.200 1.6 -21.80 1,372.9

Rapid Synergy Bhd 15.680 0.180 2.7 57.59 1,676.1 Carlsberg Brewery MSIA Bhd 23.200 -0.200 150.6 15.54 7,093.4

Ajiya BHD 1.530 0.120 5,833.1 36.61 437.2 Warisan TC Holdings Bhd 1.110 -0.120 1.1 -15.27 72.3

Greatech Technology Bhd 3.900 0.100 2,276.8 -42.05 4,886.1 Muda Holdings Bhd 1.770 -0.100 41.9 -35.87 539.9

Dutch Lady Milk Industries BHD 31.000 0.100 3.7 -7.52 1,984.0 Bursa Malaysia Bhd 6.380 -0.100 124.9 -2.60 5,163.3

Favelle Favco Bhd 1.750 0.100 0.3 -27.39 409.2 Transocean Holdings BHD 1.960 -0.100 19.1 -36.77 127.6

YNH Property Bhd 4.180 0.100 95.7 57.74 2,209.1 Kotra Industries Bhd 5.140 -0.100 29.2 62.66 760.7

Chin Teck Plantations BHD 8.670 0.100 2.2 25.88 792.1 Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd 21.100 -0.100 651.5 -3.12 22,749.1

United Plantations BHD 14.900 0.100 1,133.8 8.71 6,158.2 UMW Holdings Bhd 3.150 -0.100 177.4 6.06 3,680.1

Scientex Packaging Ayer Keroh 2.200 0.090 11.9 -8.33 771.4 Westports Holdings Bhd 3.400 -0.090 136.9 -16.05 11,594.0

Fiamma Holdings BHD 1.250 0.090 7,196.1 108.33 610.7 PPB Group Bhd 16.320 -0.080 317.0 -4.56 23,216.8

Malaysia Smelting Corp Bhd 1.460 0.080 3,150.9 -55.08 613.2 Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd 21.360 -0.080 48.0 -13.66 7,834.4

Shangri-La Hotels Malaysia Bhd 3.510 0.080 99.9 5.72 1,544.4 Dufu Technology Corp Bhd 1.660 -0.080 4,012.4 -61.31 879.7

Chin Hin Group Property Bhd 1.120 0.080 4,269.3 24.44 529.1 Press Metal Aluminium Holdings 4.720 -0.080 5,968.2 -18.34 38,891.0

LPI Capital Bhd 12.440 0.080 27.1 -11.52 4,955.9 Pentamaster Corp Bhd 4.060 -0.070 326.4 -26.85 2,887.9

Data as compiled on Nov 14, 2022 Source: Bloomberg Data as compiled on Nov 14, 2022 Source: Bloomberg