Business news summary for Jan 31 to Feb 6

Grab completes Jaya Grocer stake acquisition

• Grab Holdings Ltd has completed its acquisition of a majority stake in mass-premium supermarket chain Jaya Grocer Holdings Sdn Bhd.
• Jaya Grocer is known for their wide selection of good-quality fresh produce and grocery products.
• Grab and Jaya Grocer announced it had rolled out GrabPay and GrabRewards across all Jaya Grocer physical retail stores, expanding the usage of Grab's popular cashless wallet.

Public Mutual declares distributions

• Public Mutual Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Public Bank, has declared distributions totalling about RM65mil for 11 funds for the financial year ended Jan 31, 2022.
• The country's largest private unit trust company announced gross distributions for Public Enhanced Bond Fund (4.25 sen per unit), Public Money Market Fund - Class A (2.16 sen per unit), Public Index Fund (1.0 sen per unit), Public Islamic Emerging Opportunities Fund (0.8 sen per unit), Public Emerging Opportunities Fund (0.6 sen per unit) and Public India-Global Equity Fund (0.5 sen per unit).
• It also declared distributions for Public Islamic Optimal Growth Fund (0.5 sen per unit), Public Islamic Global Balanced Fund (0.5 sen per unit), Public e-Sukuk Fund (0.3 sen per unit), PB Dividend Builder Equity Fund (1.0 sen per unit), and PB Asia Consumer Sector Fund (0.5 sen per unit). -

Malaysia was the largest supplier of alloy to China in 2021

• Imports of refined nickel doubled year-on-year and the country continued to step up purchases of a widening range of nickel raw materials.
• 2021 was a year of two-way flow in China's trade with the global metals market.
• China's net imports of unwrought primary aluminium reached 1.57 million tonnes and those of unwrought alloy 1.00 million tonnes last year.

Palm oil leads historic vegoil rally as demand outpaces supply

• Prices for all major vegetable oils, including soybean, rapeseed, and sunflowerseed, have skyrocketed since mid-2020, but palm oil has taken the brunt due to its cheaper nature and larger availability.
• It also keeps pressure on competing vegoils, some of which should have a production comeback this year, especially rapeseed oil.
• Among the four major global vegetable oils, palm oil accounts for about 63% of annual exports, soybean and sunflower seed oil 15% each, and rapeseed oil 7%.

Slow recovery for luxury condo market

• The Kuala Lumpur luxury condominium market, having taken a hit over the last couple of years due to the pandemic, is expected to remain soft in 2022.
• The challenges faced by the luxury condominium market in 2021 will carry into this year.
• Given the subdued environment at the moment, Siva says now would be a good time for buyers to enter the market.