Stocks to watch Scomi, Mudajaya, Privasia, Inari, Century Software, banks

KUALA LUMPUR: Investors are likely to tread cautiously in the week beginning Monday, June 6 following the less-than-encouraging close at Wall Street last Friday on the back of grim employment data.

Asian markets too have yet to fully find solid footing after volatile trading last week, weighed by worries of a prolonged global economic slowdown as well as the motion of no confidence that was brought against the Japanese Prime Minister.

Although the Prime Minister Natao Kan survived the vote of no confidence, squabbling quickly resurfaced after his comments suggested he wanted to stay on until damaged reactors at the disabled Fukushima nuclear plant achieved a stable "cold shutdown", a process expected to take at least until January and probably longer, according to Reuters.

Wall Street capped off a fifth straight week of losses on Friday and Treasuries rose as much slower-than-expected US job growth stoked fear that the world's largest economy was in a protracted slowdown, according to Reuters.

The jobless rate rose to 9.1% in May as high energy prices and the effects of Japan's earthquake bogged down the economy, it said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.79% to 12,151.26, the S&P 500 Index fell 0.97% to 1,300.16 while the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.46% to 2,732.78.

MIDF Research head Zulkifli Hamzah said the FBM KLCI ended May in the positive territory, adding that this was a good sign for the market in June.

“MIDF Research anticipates another gainful month for equity although historically June tends to be quieter, both from volume and price action perspective.

“From corporate angle, there is not much to expect from the market this week. We are still in school holiday and that tends to be associated with less local participation,” he said.

Among the stocks to watch on Monday are SCOMI ENGINEERING BHD, MUDAJAYA GROUP BHD, Privasia TECHNOLOGY Bhd. Inrai Bhd, Centuru Software Holdings Bhd and banking counters.

Scomi Engineering and its consortium partners have been awarded the RM2.6 billion Line 17 monorail project in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The monorail project awarded to the consortium which consists of Scomi, Andrade Gutierrez S.A. (AG Group), CR Almeida S.A. Engenharia de Obras and Montagens e Projetos Especiais SA (MPE) will cover the design works, manufacture, supply and implementation of the monorail system for the 18-km monorail Line 17, or the Gold Metro of São Paulo.

Scomi said the project was expected start in July this year and be completed in 42 months.

Mudajaya’s unit Mudajaya Corporation Bhd been given a letter of intent to design and build a component of the Manjung power plant for a sub-contract valued at RM720 million.

Mudaya said Mudajaya Corp was the given the letter on June 2 by CMC Machipex Sdn Bhd to build the balance of plant component of Manjung No. 4 Power Plant Project.

ACE Market-listed Privasia is on the lookout for potential targets for acquisition as part of its expansion plan.

Its chief executive officer Puvanesan Subenthiran said the company was targeting companies that were able to offer synergistic benefits in helping Privasia fulfil its vision of becoming a total ICT outsourcing services provider in the region.

ACE Market-bound Inari plans to invest RM25 million over two years to acquire new machines, upgrade existing equipment and build a new facility to increase its production capacity.

Century Software’s unit Century Software (M) Sdn Bhd has been awarded a RM22.53 million contract by the Ministry of Finance to implement an online budget system.

Meanwhile, CIMB Research last Friday maintained its Overweight rating on the Malaysian banking sector and said that overall, it still sees a favourable operating environment that will allow banks to achieve its projected net profit growth of 15.5% for 2011.