Stocks to watchSarawak counters, Proton, Press Metal, Masteel, KUB

KUALA LUMPUR: Investors’ sentiment in the week ahead, starting Monday, April 18 would partly hinge on the outcome of the Sarawak state elections due late Saturday, April 16.

Sarawak-based companies had run up ahead of the dissolution of the state assembly in late March before easing off.Since then, market sentiment had been generallyl cautious on political concerns about the Sarawak polls, which are the most hotly contested in recent years.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that as at midday on Saturday, a total of 233,134 voters or 21.72% of the electorate in Sarawak have voted in the state polls, according the Election Commission. There were no untoward incidents.

At Bursa, over the past week, the 30-stock FBM KLCI had lost 22.06 points or 1.42% to end at 1,521.94 while RM14.83 billion had been erased from the market capitalisation, which mirrored the declines also in key regional markets. External concerns include the European debt crisis, sustained high oil prices and worries about the Japan's ability to recover from the earthquake which impacted its manufacturing sector.

Among the stocks which would be in focus include CAHYA MATA SARAWAK BHD (CMSB), NAIM HOLDINGS BHD, TA ANN HOLDINGS BHD, ZECON BHD [], ENCORP BHD and HOCK SENG LEE BHD (HSL).

Stocks with recent corporate developments are PROTON HOLDINGS BHD, PRESS METAL BHD, KUB MALAYSIA BHD and Malaysia Steel Works (KL) Bhd.

The Edge weekly reports that FUTUTECH BHD, which was a loss-making, former associate company of Eastern & Oriental Bhd, was poised to transform itself into a CONSTRUCTION [] firm. It had been awarded RM332.4 million worth of design, road and construction works by E&O Property Development Sdn Bhd.

Proton’s unit Lotus Cars Ltd secured £270m million (RM1.33 billion) in loans from six financial institutions over a six-year period to turn around the loss-making company.

Proton group managing director Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said he expected Lotus to break even by 2014.

Press Metal proposed a rights issue to raise between RM316.7 million and RM323.7 million to finance the Samalaju aluminium smelting project in Sarawak.

The rights issue involved RM323.73 million nominal value of redeemable convertible secured loan stocks (RCSLS) at 100% of its nominal value with up to 147.15 million warrants.

Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman has approved the proposed RM1.23 billion intra-city commuter train service in Iskandar Malaysia which would involve a100km rail network.

The project would be undertaken by Metropolitan Commuter Network Sdn Bhd - a joint venture between KUB Malaysia Bhd and Malaysia Steel Works (KL) Bhd.

SUCCESS TRANSFORMER CORP BHD has proposed to distribute 100 treasury shares for every 4,000 shares of 50 sen held for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2011. It also announced a tax exempt interim dividend of 2pct for FY ending 2011.

FAR EAST HOLDINGS BHD is recommending a final single tier dividend of 20 sen for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2010.