Morning Call : A lower week

A lower week. The FBM KLCI fell 19.08 points to close at 1,547.43 on Friday. Among the news, Bank Negara said its international reserves stood at RM329.9bn as at 14 Jan 2011, GSB Group Bhd has entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Leopad Holdings SB to sell its property comprising land and a 13-storey hotel for RM22m cash while Salcon is aiming for a 40% contribution to revenue from its overseas operations in two to three years from the current 20% by securing new water-related contracts in countries like China and India. Malaysia Smelting Corp’s public offering share for a secondary listing on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd has been fixed at SGD1.75 or RM4.17/share, and Time Engineering Bhd expects to raise RM300.6m for the sale of its entire equity stake in TimedotCom Bhd to the former’s shareholders. Finally, the US markets closed mix, with the technology shares lagging the broader market as investors weighed strong earnings from General Electric against a quarterly loss from Bank of America. Meanwhile, crude oil price dipped USD0.48 to USD89.11/barrel. (OSK Research)