Tuesday May 13, 2008 MYT 1:27:07 PM
Astro up on privatisation talk, YTL Power slides
By JOSEPH CHIN
KUALA LUMPUR: Astro rose to a 12-week high in the morning session on Tuesday on speculation it could be taken private while YTL Power shares slid 12.4% when the 2.2 billion new warrants went ex.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 0.63 point to 1,294.46, the FBM Emas lost 20.68 points to 8,694.51 and the FBM Second Board fell 29.03 points to 5,856.03.
Turnover was 258.98 million shares valued at RM423.5mil. There were 211 gainers, 316 losers while 248 counters were unchanged.
Asian markets were mixed, with Shanghai’s A Share Index down 2.58% or nearly 100 points to 3,707.65 after the government raised the statutory reserve requirement for banks and also the impact from the earthquake that killed more than 10,000 people in south-western China.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.46% to 13,944.19, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.66% to 25,2271.91 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.57% to 3,198.27.
Light crude oil was at US$123.51 per barrel while crude palm oil futures lost RM19 to RM3,551 per tonne. The ringgit was quoted at RM3.2175 to the US dollar.
At Bursa Malaysia, profit taking was quick to set in as investors turned cautious about the outlook for the market and concerns about weakening corporate earnings.
YTL Power fell 33 sen to RM2.33 with six million shares done. The 2.2 billion new warrants went ex Tuesday. Analysts were concerned the sizeable warrant issue would be a persistent share overhang for the group as warrant holders exercised their warrants.
The issuance of the warrants, on a renounceable basis of one new warrant for every three shares, was done at a steep discount to the company's current share price.
The exercise price of the new warrants was at RM1.25, a 112% discount from the company's closing share price of RM2.64 on Friday.
DiGi fell 35 sen to RM24.90, IOI Properties 20 sen to RM10.60 while VADS and Kulim gave up 10 sen each to RM6.50 and RM8.25 respectively. Public Bank foreign gave up some of the recent gains, down 10 sen to RM12 while Public Bank gave up 10 sen also to RM11.90.
Water-related counters rose in active trade, with KPS adding 12 sen to RM2, Kumpulan Hartanah Selangor gaining 4.5 sen to 72.5 sen and JAKS two sen to 77 sen.
Speculation that Astro could be taken private saw the shares surging 24 sen to RM3.84. Nestle, seen as a defensive counter, rose 25 sen to RM30.25 while MSC’s strong earnings saw the share rising 20 sen to RM8.90. Southern Steel extended its winning streak, gaining 14 sen to RM3.34 and the loan stocks 10 sen higher to RM3.10.
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