theSun | TUESDAY DECEMBER 9 2008
business news
Hang Seng S&P/ASX200
15,044.87 3,631.6
1,198.78 141.7
Asia stocks jump on US
auto rescue, stimulus
HONGKONG: Asian stocks jumped to a
three-week high yesterday, with investors
taking heart from a rescue plan for US
automakers, falling oil prices and more
government stimulus measures to limit the
economic damage from the credit crisis.
Shares in Hongkong surged 8.7% after
a report that senior Chinese economic
officials were meeting this week stirred
speculation that more stimulus measures
were on the way.
Financial bookmakers called for a
surge of about 5% in Britain’s FTSE and
Germany’s DAX, which missed out on Wall
Street’s late-day rally on Friday.
Oil prices rose around 6% to US$43.21
(RM155.55), but the plunge to a four-year
low near US$40 a barrel is expected to
provide some relief to the bleak landscape
of tightening credit and mounting layoffs.
The dollar slipped as stocks posted gains
despite Friday’s dismal US employment
report showing 533,000 jobs were lost in
November, the most in 34 years and one of
the biggest drops ever in the government
data.
Wall Street’s surge, led by retail shares,
suggested some investors believe the worst
may be over after the plunge in stocks this
year and a rush to safe-haven bonds that
has driven benchmark US Treasury yields
to half-century lows.
But plenty of investors remain sceptical
about outlook, since the financial crisis has
only just started taking its full toll on the
global economy.
A survey released yesterday showed
confidence among Japanese service sector
workers fell further in November to a record
low.
“There still will be more downside
movements in Asian markets,” said Dariusz
Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at
CMC Seymour in Hongkong, adding that
shrinking trade surpluses in the region
should hurt corporate earnings and equities.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks
outside Japan surged 6.5%, poised for its
biggest daily rise in six weeks. But the index
remains down 56% on the year as 2008
comes to a close.
In a sign that investors are putting money
to work, data from EPFR Global showed
Asia ex-Japan funds recording a third
straight week of inflows.
Indian education group to invest
RM100m in Iskandar Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR: One of India’s leading education
groups, the Vinayaka Missions University, is keen
to invest RM100 million to set up an engineering,
technical and management branch campus in
Iskandar Malaysia.
By 2015, the VMU group has earmarked
RM220 million to be invested in various educa-
tion-based projects as part of its expansion plans
in Malaysia.
“The concept of educity or Iskandar’s educa-
tion-hub ambitions appeals to us and VMU is
keen to be part of this development, said VMU
Pro-Chancellor Dr S. Sharavanan.
VMU, which currently manages 21 colleges and
universities in India, Canada, the USA, Thailand
and in Penang, sees great opportunity in attract-
ing students, not just from Malaysia but also from
the region, he said in a statement on Sunday.
“A major advantage that Iskandar Malaysia
offers is location, logistics and world class infra-
structure. Foreign students will also enjoy the
lower cost of getting quality education at the
branch campus which can cater to up to 8,000
students,” said Sharavanan.
Sharavanan, who is also managing director and
21
KOSPI
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NIKKEI
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76.92 404.51
KLCI STI
TSEC
CLOSED CLOSED
4,418.33
193.26
Japanese portfolio managers have
snapped up US$28.7 billion of foreign stocks
in October and December combined, with
the buying in November the most on data
going back to 2005.
Japan’s Nikkei average pushed up 5.2%,
with machinery maker Komatsu soaring
11% on the global stimulus plans being
launched. The Nikkei outpaced the 3.7% rise
in the US S&P 500 on Friday.
“There’s a sense that perhaps Japanese
shares had fallen too much,” said Nagayuki
Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ
Securities.
Around the world, policymakers kept up
their efforts to revive their economies.
US President-elect Barack Obama said
over the weekend that he plans the biggest
increase in infrastructure investment since
the 1950s with the goal of creating at least
2.5 million jobs.
India launched US$4 billion of extra
spending to support the economy, while
Xinhua news agency reported that Chinese
economic leaders were meeting this week
on ways to keep growth above 8%. Australia
started sending cheques to families
and pensioners under a stimulus plan
announced in October.
Also over the weekend, the White House
and congressional negotiators sought to
resolve the remaining difficulties over an
emergency rescue for the ailing US car
industry.
Many markets have shuffled sideways in
the past several weeks despite the relentless
array of bleak news, giving some analysts
reasons to think the worst may be over after
central banks slashed interest rates and
authorities put together spending packages
to revive growth.
As stock indexes have found their
footing, the dollar and yen have slipped
as investors tip-toe back into the euro
and higher-yielding currencies that have
been battered throughout the crisis on
expectations for aggressive rate cuts.
The euro rose 0.7% to ¥118.93, helping
lift the single currency 0.6% to US$1.2800.
The dollar index, a gauge of its performance
against six major currencies, dropped 0.6%
86.417.
Battered emerging market currencies
staged a recovery, with the South Korean
won up about 2%. – Reuters
CEO of the Penang International Dental College
(PIDC), which is operated by VMU, expressed confi-
dence Iskandar Malaysia has the required incentives
to attract more local and foreign investments.
“We at VMU view Malaysia as a strategic loca-
tion to invest especially with the government’s
push towards creating an education hub in the
region. We certainly have ambitious plans in
Malaysia,” he said.
He said RM55 million has been set aside for
PIDC and RM25 million for the Surya College, an
allied health sciences college scheduled to open
early next year in Butterworth.
“Another RM40 million has been set aside
to be invested in education related ventures in
Penang up to 2015. We will announce the details
in due time,” he said.
The proposed branch campus in Iskandar Ma-
laysia will widen access to affordable education,
extend VMU’s global footprint and help meet the
university’s mission to spread education globally
in the field of medicine, dental, paramedical, ho-
meopathy, engineering, management and basic
science using existing resources and technology.
– Bernama