MAS extends gains on fresh newsflow, turnaround hopes

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 5): Shares of Malaysian Airline System (MAS) rose in
active trade on Thursday on fresh corporate newsflow and expectations of
a turnaround in its fortunes following a top management revamp.

At 4.09pm, MAS was up 17 sen to RM1.58 with 17.82 million shares done.
Its call warrants MAS-CD added 4.5 sen to 16 sen while MAS-CE gained
five sen to 18.5 sen.

The FBM KLCI rose 7.75 points to 1,511.97.
Turnover was 1.39 billion shares valued at RM1.10 billion. There were
384 gainers, 358 loser and 326 counters unchanged.

The latest
newsflow was the the Securities Commission's approval for the proposed
warrants exchange exercise between MAS and AIRASIA BHD []. However, the
approval is subject to the company complying with the relevant
requirements pertaining to the implementation of the proposal as
stipulated under the SC's equity guidelines.

Meanwhile, a news
report said MAS' short-haul premium airline is set to be launched by the
first half of this year. This airline would be using six B737-800
aircraft, previously used by Firefly.

Last Friday, MAS unveiled a
management structure with new business units, group chief executive
officer Ahmad Jauhari taking on the role as CEO of long-haul, the
departure of several top officials and the entry of two aviation
experts.