Currency valuation in the environment of tightening monetary policy: In the post-pandemic era, most economies start to normalise or tighten monetary policy rates amid improving domestic economic activities and rising inflationary pressure.

A case for ringgit appreciation

Tasco Bhd
(March 25, 72 sen)
Maintain neutral with a lower target price of 73 sen: Tasco Bhd’s international business segment makes up about 30% of its total revenue. About 65% of its international business segment revenue, is in turn contributed by the air freight ...

Tasco’s air freight forwarding business seen to face headwinds

WCT Holdings Bhd 
(March 20, 31.5 sen)
Maintain buy with an unchanged target price of 64 sen: Last Thursday, based on a Bursa announcement dated March 19, 2020, the group has accepted a letter of award (LoA) from Jendela Mayang Sdn Bhd. Under the LoA, WCT Holdi...

WCT’s new RM1.2b job seen to improve investor sentiments

AirAsia Group Bhd
(March 17, 62.5 sen)
Maintain neutral with a lower target price of 63 sen: AirAsia Indonesia and AirAsia India were the darlings of AirAsia Group Bhd. However, rising Covid-19 cases outside China and wider travel bans by countries such as India wil...

Pressure on AirAsia could be cushioned by domestic travel

WCT Holdings Bhd
(March 16, 38.5 sen)
Maintain buy with a lower target price (TP) of 64 sen: Based on Bursa Malaysia’s announcement dated March 13, 2020, WCT Holdings Bhd’s Middle East regional office in Doha, Qatar had received a final award pertaining to an arbitr...

Additional provision for arbitration case seen to impact WCT FY19 profit

YTL Power International Bhd
(March 13, 59.5 sen)
Upgrade to buy with an unchanged target price of 70 sen: YTL Power International Bhd (YTLP) is acquiring Hyflux Ltd’s Tuaspring 396 megawatt (mw) combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant, which has been placed un...

YTL Power acquisition cost of power plant in S’pore seen cheap

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd
(March 12, RM5.89)
Maintain buy with a revised target price of RM7.65: February 2020 passenger traffic for Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) airports — excluding the Istanbul Sabiha Gocken Airport (ISGA) — fell 23.4% year-on-year (...

MAHB’s passenger numbers still seen to hit 100.1 million mark in 2020

MISC Bhd
(March 10, RM7.02)
Upgrade to trading buy with an unchanged target price of RM8.11: Recall that the US Energy Information Administration cut its global oil demand growth forecast for 2020 by 310,000 barrels per day. Nevertheless, the latest chain of events ...

MISC could benefit as oversupply of oil bullish for its freight rates

Insurance sector
Downgrade to neutral: Concluding the fourth quarter of financial year 2019 (4QFY19) earnings season of insurance companies under our coverage, we noticed that its net earned contributions (NEC) and net earned premiums (NEP) as well as earnings were experie...

Insurance sector seen entering soft market cycle

Banking sector
Maintain positive: Bank Negara Malaysia announced another cut to its overnight policy rate (OPR) of 25 basis points on Tuesday, bringing the OPR to 2.50%. While we had expected another OPR cut to follow the reduction in January, we expected it would have bee...

OPR cut not seen as imminent recession signal

The Trump administration is proposing an overhaul of the US State Department that would eliminate more than 100 offices including some working on war crimes and rights advocacy to ensure Washington's premier diplomatic agency is in line with President Donald Trump's "America First" priorities.

Trump administration proposes shake-up of US State Department

A slew of mergers and acquisitions among finance-related firms is defying the global slump in dealmaking amid market turmoil triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff war.

US$50 bil finance deals defy global M&A gloom

Alphabet Inc pays Samsung Electronics Co an “enormous sum of money” every month to pre-install Google generative AI app, Gemini, on its phones and devices, according to court testimony, even though the company’s practice of paying for installations has twice been found to violate the law.

Google paid Samsung ‘enormous sums’ for Gemini AI app installs

The treasurers of eight US states have written an open letter to Tesla Inc’s board of directors questioning the direction of the company and the level of attention Elon Musk is paying to its mounting challenges.

Tesla board gets an earful from state treasurers over Musk’s focus

United States (US) tech giants Intel and Oracle have raised concerns about the impact of the United States’ (US) tariffs on their operations in Malaysia, said Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

Intel, Oracle raise concerns over US tariffs with PM — Zafrul 

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Spain will boost defence spending to 2% of economic output in 2025, or four years earlier than previously planned, as Nato nations come under growing US pressure to invest more in their security.

Spain plans to hike defense spending to 2% of GDP this year

Here is a brief recap of some business news and corporate announcements that made the headlines on Tuesday:

MGB, Scanwolf, DPS Resources, Petronas Chemicals, Alpha IVF, Pentamaster, Southern Steel

Northrop Grumman Corp reported first-quarter profit that missed analysts’ expectations and cut its earnings forecast for the year as costs mounted for its next-generation B-21 stealth bomber.

Northrop Grumman cuts earnings outlook on B-21 Bomber costs

Solar photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturers in Malaysia owned by China-based players could face the risk of being phased out due to the latest US-imposed duties on solar imports from the country, an industry group representing the sector said.

New US tariffs on solar imports threaten to phase out Chinese solar panel makers in Malaysia

Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has ruled out an imminent cabinet shakeup amid reports of a growing rift between her ruling party and its biggest coalition partner.

Thai PM rules out cabinet shakeup amid signs of coalition rift

The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) plans to nab&nbsp;another ‘Tan Sri’ for questioning&nbsp;in connection with the MBI ponzi scheme, following a second round of arrests from April 18 to 21 and the seizure of RM347 million in assets, according to sources.

Police to nab third ‘Tan Sri’ for questioning, following fresh arrests and RM347m seizure in MBI case — sources

Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (KL: PCHEM), or PCG, announced on Tuesday that its Pengerang Petrochemicals Complex in Johor — the group’s largest growth project under its olefins and derivatives segment in partnership with Saudi Aramco — commenced commercial operations in November 2024

Petronas Chemicals says commercial ops at Pengerang site commenced in November 2024

Norges Bank, which manages Norway’s government pension fund, has emerged as a substantial shareholder in automated test equipment (ATE) maker Pentamaster Corp Bhd (KL:PENTA) with a 5.26% stake.

Norges Bank emerges as substantial shareholder of Pentamaster

Wong &amp; Partners, the legal firm which had advised 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), did not play a role in the controversial transfer of the US$1 billion meant for a joint venture with PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI), but which was then misappropriated, the court heard on Tuesday.

1MDB legal adviser Wong & Partners played no role in controversial US$1b remittance, court told

Here is a brief recap of some business news and corporate announcements that made the headlines on Tuesday:

United States (US) tech giants Intel and Oracle have raised concerns about the impact of the United States’ (US) tariffs on their operations in Malaysia, said Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

The treasurers of eight US states have written an open letter to Tesla Inc’s board of directors questioning the direction of the company and the level of attention Elon Musk is paying to its mounting challenges.

Wall Street's main indexes recovered some ground on Tuesday as investors focused on corporate earnings after President Donald Trump's mounting criticism of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell led to a sharp sell-off in the previous session.

Wall Street bounces back after sell-off as investors focus on earnings

After Singapore-based steel firm Green Esteel Pte Ltd’s emergence as the controlling shareholder of Southern Steel Bhd (KL:SSTEEL) earlier this year, the Malaysian group is now offloading a 55% stake in its steel wire mesh-making unit to Singapore-listed BRC Asia Ltd for RM61.05 million in cash.

Southern Steel to sell 55% stake in steel wire mesh unit to Singapore-listed BRC Asia

MGB Bhd proposes to settle RM7.23 million with joint venture partner Aset AZG Sdn Bhd (AASB) to kick start a serviced apartment project in Cameron Highlands which has been on the back burner for six years.

MGB settles RM7.23m with JV partner to revive Cameron Highlands project after six years

To break into the cryptocurrency mining industry, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr are teaming up with executives who previously founded a miner with the backing of investors implicated in an illegal penny-stock pump-and-dump operation.

Trump sons’ bitcoin mining partners had run-ins with regulators

West River Bhd, slated for listing on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia on May 5, saw 0.26 times oversubscription for the public portion of its new shares in its initial public offering.

West River’s IPO oversubscribed by 0.26 times

DPS Resources Bhd (KL:DPS) is partnering Invest Energy Sdn Bhd to develop solar farms and other infrastructure to support its proposed artificial intelligence (AI) data centre and high-tech industrial park in Alor Gajah, Melaka.

DPS Resources, Invest Energy team up to build solar farms in Melaka

With profit margins close to record levels, Corporate America has some room to absorb costs from higher tariffs. How much it decides to cushion the blow will determine how high inflation goes in 2025.

US earnings to offer clues on how much tariffs will boost prices

Bitcoin advanced to the highest level since early March, fuelling optimism that the biggest digital token is finally breaking free of a longstanding tendency to move in tandem with US tech stocks.

Bitcoin rallies 20% during market turmoil to diverge from tech

Alpha IVF Group Bhd (KL:ALPHA) posted a 12.4% year-on-year decline in net profit for its third quarter, dragged by expansion costs and lower contributions from its Singapore operations.

Alpha IVF's 3Q net profit down 12% on expansion costs

Investors are fearful of a deep hit to asset prices if US President Donald Trump attempts to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, undermining confidence in the central bank's ability to fight inflation and act independently.

That could hurt the already bruised dollar, under-pressure equities and send bond yields higher, market participants said.

Investors fear Trump's attacks on Powell will pile on pain

Scanwolf Corporation Bhd (KL:SCNWOLF) said it has secured a RM16.63 million subcontract for the relocation of water supply in Rawang, Selangor.

Scanwolf secures subcontract for relocation of water supply in Rawang

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday slashed its forecasts for growth in the United States, China and most countries, citing the impact of US tariffs now at 100-year highs, and warning that further trade tensions would slow growth further.

IMF cuts growth forecasts for most countries in wake of century-high US tariffs

Hours after swearing an oath to defend the US Constitution on January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing his attorney general to scour the Justice Department and other agencies for evidence of political "weaponization."

MIDF Research

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