Selasa, 18 Jun 2013

NST Online Business Times : latest

0 ulasan
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Business Times : latest


FBM KLCI rises in early trade

Posted: 18 Jun 2013 06:42 PM PDT

Malaysia's benchmark stock index rose in early trade, extending its recovery in tandem with a steady Wall Street performance, led by gain in oil and gas firms such as Petronas Gas Bhd (PGB) and Bumi Armada Bhd.

The index, which rose 0.11 per cent in early trade, outperformed MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan that fell 0.08 per cent, while it underperformed Tokyo's Nikkei share average, which rose 1.77 per cent.

"The benchmark index may gyrate sideways with a slight positive bias today with its immediate resistance barrier standing at 1,785 currently," HwangDBS said in a research note to clients on Wednesday.

HwangDBS also said investors will watch Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd after the company reported a 17 per cent year-on-year drop in its fourth quarter profit on Tuesday, hurt by higher operating expenses.

The index was up 0.26 per cent at 1,778.7 at 9.13am in Kuala Lumpur.-- Reuters

KL shares open higher in early trading

Posted: 18 Jun 2013 06:55 PM PDT

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened higher in early trading today, supported by gains mostly seen in selected blue chips led by Petronas Gas, dealers said.

Sixteen minutes after opening, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 8.34 points to 1,782.39, the highest level so far today.

At the opening, the barometer index rose 3.21 points to 1,777.26 from yesterday's close at 1,774.05.

Petronas Gas, which accounted for 1.393 points of the benchmark index's rise, gained 38 sen to RM21.48.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said the local bourse could extend its recovery in tandem with a steadier Wall Street performance.

"The benchmark FBM KLCI may gyrate sideways with a slight positive bias today, with its immediate resistance barrier standing at 1,785 currently," it said in a research note today.

Last night, leading US equity bellwethers rose between 0.8 per cent and 0.9 per cent, as investors await the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

"Essentially, by tomorrow morning Malaysia time, we hope to get an insight whether the policymakers intend to wind down the monetary stimulus programme anytime soon," said the research house.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index surged 82.43 points to 16,945.78, the Industrial Index rose 11.73 points to 3,034.32 while the Plantation Index improved 35 points to 8,433.89.

The FBM Emas Index increased 55.68 points to 12,399.58, the FBMT100 Index was 54.53 points higher at 12,157.5, the FBM Mid 70 Index jumped 54.41 points to 14,263.66 and the FBM Ace Index added 3.67 points to 4,790.19.

Gainers thumped losers by 223 to 65 while 165 counters were unchanged, 1,125 untraded and 14 others were suspended.

Total turnover was at 127.212 million shares worth RM60.415 million.

Among actives, Eti Tech shed half sen to 8.5 sen, Flonic Hi-Tec eased one sen to 7.5 sen while Nova MSC edged up one sen to 6.5 sen.

Heavyweights, Maybank garnerd six sen to RM10.50, CIMB rose five sen to RM8.32, Sime Darby earned two sen to RM9.57 while Axiata slipped one sen to RM6.63.-- Bernama

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

NST Online Top Stories - Google News

0 ulasan
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Top Stories - Google News


US says Taliban agrees to Afghanistan peace talks - Los Angeles Times

Posted: 18 Jun 2013 07:20 AM PDT

Afghanistan

NATO solders walk towards a Chinook helicopter after a ceremony at a military academy on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Rahmat Gul / Associated Press / June 18, 2013)

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland -- Senior Obama administration officials said Tuesday that the Taliban has agreed to participate in peace talks based in Qatar, a key step forward in the effort to jump-start a political resolution of the war in Afghanistan ahead of U.S. plans to withdraw troops.

Officials said direct talks between U.S. officials and Taliban representatives could begin this week in Doha and would be followed soon after by a meeting between the Taliban and the High Peace Council, which will represent the Afghan government in the talks.

The opening of the Qatar office has long been a goal of U.S. officials seeking to move forward a diplomatic process ahead of the planned withdrawal of U.S. forces next year. Officials expressed cautious optimism about the prospects of the negotiations, and stressed that U.S. will act as a "facilitator" in the process.

"The core of the process is not going to be U.S.-Taliban talks," said one senior official, who requested anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of a formal announcement. "The core of it is going to be negotiation among Afghans and the level of trust on both sides is, as one would expect, extremely low."

U.S. officials have long pushed for the opening of the office in Qatar as part of the push toward a diplomatic resolution to the war. But even as they announced the news, a bombing targeting a prominent politician in Kabul demonstrated the challenges ahead. 

Tuesday's attack preempted a ceremony marking the formal handoff of security responsibility from NATO to Afghan National Security Forces. NATO combat forces are slated to leave by the end of 2014.

Officials made the announcement as President Obama attended a meeting of the Group of 8 industrialized nations.

ALSO:

Tens of thousands protest conditions in Brazil

Bombing mars final NATO transfer of Afghan security duties

Presidents Obama and Putin share icy encounter over Syria 


NSA director defends sweeping surveillance program, says plot against Wall ... - Washington Post

Posted: 18 Jun 2013 08:25 AM PDT

Army Gen. Keith Alexander said the two recently disclosed programs — one that gathers U.S. phone records and another that is designed to track the use of U.S.-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to terrorism — are critical in the terrorism fight.

Intelligence officials have disclosed some details on two thwarted attacks, and Alexander offered some information on other attempts.

He said the NSA was monitoring a known extremist in Yemen who was in contact with an individual in the United States. Identifying that person and other individuals, Alexander said, officials "were able to detect a nascent plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange. ... The FBI disrupted and arrested these individuals."

The programs "assist the intelligence community to connect the dots," Alexander told the committee in a rare, open Capitol Hill hearing.

Alexander got no disagreement from the leaders of the panel, who have been outspoken in backing the programs since Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton, disclosed information to The Washington Post and the Guardian newspapers.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the committee, and Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the panel's top Democrat, said the programs were vital to the intelligence community and assailed Snowden's actions as criminal.

"It is at times like these where our enemies within become almost as damaging as our enemies on the outside," Rogers said.

Ruppersberger said the "brazen disclosures" put the United States and its allies at risk.

The general counsel for the intelligence community said the NSA cannot target phone conversations between callers inside the U.S. — even if one of those callers was someone they were targeted for surveillance when outside the country.

The director of national intelligence's legal chief, Robert S. Litt, said that if the NSA finds it has accidentally gathered a phone call by a target who had traveled into the U.S. without their knowledge, they have to "purge" that from their system. The same goes for an accidental collection of any conversation because of an error.

Litt said those incidents are then reported to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which "pushes back" and asks how it happened, and what the NSA is doing to fix the problem so it doesn't happen again.

The hearing came the morning after President Barack Obama, who is attending the G-8 summit in Ireland, vigorously defended the surveillance programs in a lengthy interview Monday, calling them transparent — even though they are authorized in secret.

"It is transparent," Obama told PBS' Charlie Rose in an interview. "That's why we set up the FISA court," the president added, referring to the secret court set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that authorizes two recently disclosed programs: one that gathers U.S. phone records and another that is designed to track the use of U.S.-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to terrorism.

Kredit: www.nst.com.my
 

NST Online

Copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved