Stocks to watch: Telcos, Carlsberg, Pintaras Jaya, UOA Devt

KUALA LUMPUR: Trading on Bursa Malaysia could be range bound on Thursday, 8 in the absence of strong local corporate newsflow to attract investors interest into riskier equities but the late Wall Street bounce of more than 2 percent on Wednesday could help lift the sentiment.

The gains on Wall Street reversed three days of losses after Germany's top court smoothed the way for Berlin's participation in bailouts that could ease Europe's debt crisis. But investor caution that there remains a long road to recovery was underscored by light trading and continued high volatility as shown in the CBOE VIX volatility index, Reuters reported.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 275.56 points, or 2.47 percent, to 11,414.86. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 33.38 points, or 2.86 percent, to 1,198.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 75.11 points, or 3.04 percent, to 2,548.94.

Notable events on Thursday include Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak officiating at the Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia at the KLCC.

The theme of the conference is “A Green New Deal, The Next Frontier”, which could see the Premier announcing more details about the government’s drive into green TECHNOLOGY [].

Najib is also scheduled to provide an update on the Economic Transformation Programme later in the morning, as the ETP sets the economy on a firmer footing via various projects ranging from the mass rapid transit (MRT) to the oil and gas sector.

On the economic front, Bank Negara Malaysia will announce the conclusion of its monetary policy committee meeting. Economists said BNM is likely to keep the overnight policy rate at 3% up to mid-2012 amid uncertainties in the global economic outlook.

At Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday, the FBM KLCI closed 10.24 point higher at 1,464.61. Trading volume shrunk to 650.39 million units. However, the broader market was positive with gainers beating losers 439 to 240.

Telecommunication stocks could continue to see trading interest on the back of some mild local fund buying of Telekom Malaysia and Axiata. DiGi will be suspended for a corporate announcement.

Stocks to watch include CARLSBERG BREWERY MALAYSIA BHD [], PINTARAS JAYA BHD [], UOA Development Bhd, FUTUTECH BHD [] and UNISEM (M) BHD [].

Carlsberg expects a challenging year in 2012 due to rising production costs and is looking at increasing its product prices next year.

Its managing director Soren Ravn expected rising input costs for its products, particularly the prices of barley - a key material in brewing beer - which could be 35% to 40% higher next year

Pintaras Jaya’s unit won a RM54.85 million contract for the substructure of a commercial and residential development in Ampang here.

Its unit Pintaras Geotechnics Sdn Bhd had received a letter of award dated Aug 22 from Oasis Garden Development Sdn Bhd.

UOA Development’s subsidiary Ceylon Hills Sdn Bhd has awarded a RM101.36 million CONSTRUCTION [] job for a 27-storey hotel suites project off Bukit Ceylon in Kuala Lumpur to its unit Allied Engineering Construction Sdn Bhd.

The project was for the construction of the main building and infrastructure of the One Bukit Ceylon Hotel Suites.

Fututech’s executive chairman Tee Eng Ho and director Tee Eng Seng have launched a takeover offer for the remaining 49.01% shares in the company at 50 sen each.

They had also offered to acquire the remaining 18.59 million warrants at nine sen each.

However, the proposals are unlikely to excite investors. Fututech shares closed at 48.5 sen and the warrants untraded at 13 sen.

Unisem is looking into testing a wide variety of integrated circuits (ICs) ranging from low-integration devices up to high-integration radio frequency (RF) devices, opening up new markets for its Europe and Asia factories.

PALETTE MULTIMEDIA BHD [] has proposed a renounceable rights issue of up to 154.51 million warrants at an indicative price of three sen each to raise up to RM4.63 million.

The ACE Market company said on Wednesday, Sept 7 the warrants would be on the basis of one warrant for every two shares held.

Under the minimum scenario, it would raise RM4.35 million of which RM3.45 million would be used for working capital. Under the maximum scenario, it would raise RM4.63 million of which RM3.73 million would be for working capital.