The eurozone’s economy is waiting for a resounding vote of confidence from its own consumers for its long-awaited rebound to finally take shape.

With employment at a record, wages rising steeply and inflation not far from 2%, the conditions are there for people to get out and spend.

Eurozone at turning point needs consumers to get out and spend

KUALA LUMPUR (May 6): Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the World Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is not the golden standard but a mere benchmark for the government to consider the actions that can be taken to improve the nation’s media freedom.

World Press Freedom Index not the golden standard, says Fahmi

On the face of it, QSR Brands (M) Holdings Bhd is suffering because of the boycott of US-based food franchises, resulting in its suspending operations of more than 100 KFC restaurants.

Frankly Speaking: Is KFC seizing an opportunity?

HAVING priced in the ongoing Middle East conflicts, Malaysia’s stock market has been on the rise with local institutions absorbing shares dumped by foreign investors. The FBM KLCI has risen 8% since the beginning of this year. The benchmark closed at 1,569.25 points last Thursday.

Fund ...

Local institutions give market a lift amid foreign selling 

theedgemalaysia.com highlighted one stock with positive momentum and five stocks with negative momentum at Bursa Malaysia's afternoon close on Monday.

Inta, SNS, Harbour, Marco, Fiamma, SAM 

LONDON (May 6): High Chinese tariffs on EU brandy would leave French companies with vast amounts of cognac that could be hard to sell elsewhere, according to Reuters' calculations, analysts, and investors who fear firms could be forced to discount.

China opened an anti-dumping investiga...

Chinese tariffs could leave cognac makers with too much brandy

Asian stocks rose to their highest in over a year on Monday on renewed bets that the Federal Reserve (Fed) would most likely ease rates this year, while the yen weakened after a strong surge last week from Tokyo's suspected currency intervention.

Asia shares rally on China's gains, Fed cut bets; yen weakens

BENGALURU (May 6): Gold prices ticked higher on Monday, as expectations that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates later in the year and tensions in the Middle East lifted bullion's appeal.

Gold rises on Fed rate cut hopes, Middle East tensions

Ulrich Korner, the final CEO of Credit Suisse, is set to leave UBS in the coming weeks, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Final Credit Suisse CEO, Ulrich Korner, to leave UBS — FT

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said there are “load of opportunities” in India, but he’s leaving them to future management.

Buffett says India holds ‘unexplored’ opportunities for future Berkshire leaders

BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, said Malaysia's deepwater explorations are expected to accelerate as more investments are directed towards under-explored areas.

BMI: Deepwater exploration in Malaysia gathers momentum

The FBM KLCI’s uptrend has been relentless since mid-April as accumulation on blue chips&nbsp;by both local institutions and foreign funds continues, according to Rakuten Trade.

Banks, construction to be in focus as FBM KLCI could test 1,600 soon, says Rakuten Trade 

Fraser &amp; Neave Holdings Bhd (F&amp;N) shares surged to their highest in five years on Monday, as better-than-expected results buoyed investors' optimism, while analysts maintained their calls following a briefing.

F&N surges to five-year high on better earnings, outlook

Foreign buying of Malaysian equities surged 3.6 times to RM1.06 billion last week from RM292.2 million the prior week, as they net bought every day of the week.

Foreign buying of local equities surged to RM1.06b last week, says MIDF

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has updated its Investor Alert List.

In an alert last Thursday, the commission said the following persons/entities were added to the list:

SC adds six entities to Investor Alert List, four being potential clones

Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB) on Monday began coverage of SAM Engineering &amp; Equipment (M) Bhd with a counter-consensus ‘buy’ call, betting on the cyclical recovery of aerospace and semiconductor sectors.

Maybank IB joins coverage of SAM Engineering with counter-consensus ‘buy’ call

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be having an online meeting with tech giant Google on Monday.

Without disclosing more details on the issues to be discussed, he said Malaysia has continued to receive interests from foreign investors.

Anwar scheduled to have online meeting with Google on Monday

Phillip Capital has initiated coverage on T7 Global Bhd with a “buy” rating at 53 sen and a target price of 68 sen.

Phillip Capital starts coverage on T7 Global, target price 68 sen 

President Xi Jinping has arrived in France to begin talks aimed at stabilising China’s relationship with Europe, as he tries to perform damage limitation on trade ties with the key bloc.

Xi begins Europe tour in Paris as Macron seeks to reset ties

Across much of the developed world, one of the most dependable drivers of economic growth is faltering.

For decades, the rapid inflow of migrants helped countries including Canada, Australia and the UK stave off the demographic drag from aging populations and falling birth rates.

Global housing shortages are crushing immigration-fuelled growth

Asian stocks rose to their highest in over a year on Monday on renewed bets that the Federal Reserve (Fed) would most likely ease rates this year, while the yen weakened after a strong surge last week from Tokyo's suspected currency intervention.

Analysts have raised their earnings forecasts and target prices (TPs) for plastic packaging maker SLP Resources Bhd, after the group's latest financial results beat their expectations due to improved product mix and higher output.

Analysts raise SLP Resources earnings forecasts, TPs after strong 1Q performance

Proton Holdings Bhd reported on Monday its car sales rose by 17.1% to 11,025 vehicles in April (including domestic and exports) compared to the 9,415 units sold last year.&nbsp;

Proton records sales of 11,025 units in April, higher by 17.1% y-o-y

Robusta coffee prices have climbed to the highest in 45 years, according to the International Coffee Organisation (ICO), as a supply crunch intensifies for the variety used in espresso blends and instant drinks.

Coffee variety priciest in 45 years in blow to instant brews

EQT AB agreed to buy technology consultant Perficient Inc in a deal valued at about US$3 billion (RM14.22 billion) including debt.

EQT to buy tech consultant Perficient in US$3b deal

NCT Group of Companies has signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with SMARTSEL Sdn Bhd and Mikro Sdn Bhd to scale up the capabilities of the NCT Smart Industrial Park (NSIP), while introducing advanced sustainability practices geared to positively impact its carbon footprint.

NCT inks deal to integrate 4G and 5G networks at NCT Smart Industrial Park

The Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) will be objecting to Muar Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq's leave application to take legal action against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the government over RM730,300 in allocations meant for his constituency.

AGC to object to Syed Saddiq's leave application over unpaid allocations

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar and Raja Permaisuri Agong Raja Zarith Sofiah arrived in Singapore on Monday for a two-day state visit to the republic.

King, Queen arrive in Singapore for maiden state visit

Qantas Airways Ltd will pay a A$100 million (RM313.78 million) penalty and compensate passengers for selling tickets on thousands of flights it had already decided to cancel, as chief executive officer Vanessa Hudson continues costly repairs to the airline’s battered reputation.

Qantas settles ‘ghost flight’ lawsuit as cleanup costs mount

The new chief executive of Brooks Running said the running shoe maker owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway&nbsp;views China and Europe as growth areas for a business that generates most revenue in the US.

Berkshire's Brooks Running CEO sees China, Europe as growth areas

TM One’s commitment to delivering enterprises’ NEXT advantage was recently amplified with the launch of the TM One Sandbox, which aims to accelerate the digitalisation and automation of businesses, communities and the government.

TM One, delivering your NEXT advantage today

Former Baling Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim's appeal in his defamation suit against DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng in relation to the Penang undersea tunnel project will now be heard on May 19, 2023.

Former Baling MP's appeal in defamation suit against Guan Eng set for May

GuocoLand (Malaysia) Bhd has appointed Noorbaizura Hermeyney as its new managing director (MD), succeeding Tan Wee Bee, effective May 18.

GuocoLand names Noorbaizura as new MD

Here is a brief recap of some corporate announcements that made news on Friday (May 12) involving Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd, Tomei Consolidated Bhd, Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd, Revenue Group Bhd, CSH Alliance Bhd, Ageson Bhd, Teladan Setia Group Bhd, SFP Tech Holdings Bhd and Kumpulan Kitacon Bhd.

Hap Seng, Tomei, Hong Seng, Revenue Group, CSH Alliance, Ageson, Teladan Setia, SFP Tech and Kumpulan Kitacon

The gross domestic product (GDP) of 5.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) in the first quarter of 2023 (1Q2023) has delivered an upside surprise, however it shows weakness in the external sector, said OCBC Bank.

OCBC senior Asean economist Lavanya Venkateswaran in a note on Friday (May 12), said the GDP growth came as a surprise on the upside (consensus and OCBC: 5.1%) against 7% in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4QFY2022).

OCBC Bank: Malaysia 1Q GDP growth of 5.6% surprise on the upside but shows external weakness

While the Malaysian economy surprised on the upside in the first quarter of the year, economists believe that external headwinds and rising interest rates domestically will likely slow down growth in the coming quarters.

The first quarter number, while outperformed economists' expectations, still could not mask the fact that the economic expansion is slowing down quarter on quarter, as rising interest rates and global economic challenges dragged both domestic and external demand

Stronger than expected 1Q2023 GDP, but global challenges abound clouding outlook

In less than six months after acquiring a controlling 51% stake in Innov8tif Holdings Sdn Bhd in January to venture into the digital industry, Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd is offloading the stake to Revenue Group Bhd — citing its lack of experience in the digital business as the reason.

The RM36 million disposal, announced via a bourse filing on Friday (May 12), came prior to Hong Seng's payment of the balance consideration of RM24.41 million for the stake. It has paid only RM3.36 million of the RM30.86 million price tag so far, of which RM3.35 million would be retained as security performance of Innov8tif Holdings's key management personnel.

Hong Seng offloads digital biz stake to Revenue Group less than six months after acquiring it

Teladan Setia Group Bhd’s net profit fell 12.28% to RM8.31 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 (1QFY2023) from RM9.47 million in 1QFY2022, mainly due to higher administrative expenses.

Teladan Setia’s 1Q profit falls 12%; aims to launch properties worth RM1.1 bil in GDV

The Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3) will review the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Application Guide for financial institutions to support enhanced sustainability and climate-related disclosures.

JC3 to review climate-related disclosures to ramp up financial institutions' response to climate change 

KUALA LUMPUR (May 12): Kumpulan Kitacon Bhd has won an RM101.5 million contract for construction work pertaining to a residential development in Gombak, Selangor.

The job won by its wholly-owned subsidiary Kitacon Sdn Bhd from GLM Emerald West (Rawang) Sdn Bhd, involves the main buildin...

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