theSun | THURSDAY NOVEMBER 6 2008 œ 27

business news HANG SENG S&P/ASX200 TSEC

4,978.25
14,840.16 4,336.6
455.82 121.5 14.37

KLCI STI KOSPI NIKKEI

915.24 1,868.82 1,181.50 9,521.24
9.66 39.13 28.15 406.64

KL market summary NOVEMBER 5, 2008

Prices broadly higher INDICES

FBMEMAS 6,015.94
CHANGE
+ 66.20
SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia closed broadly COMPOSITE 915.24 9.66
INDUSTRIAL 2,134.60 2.70
higher yesterday in line with the gains in regional CONSUMER PROD 273.45 1.18
markets as sentiment improved on expectations INDUSTRIAL PROD 70.72 0.46
of a global financial recovery, dealers said. CONSTRUCTION 160.78 3.75
They said the world hoped that Barack Obama, TRADING/SERVICES 127.98 0.56
who had won the US presidential race, would FINANCE 7,140.52 95.50
PROPERTIES 543.31 9.53
quickly stamp his mark and get the US$700 billion
PLANTATIONS 3,959.56 150.26
(RM2.45 trillion) bailout programme operating. MINING 259.38 4.05
“There is a dire need for the richest economy FBMSHA 6,175.45 71.92
in the world to fix its financial system as it holds FBM2BRD 4,355.12 42.23
some 28% of world gross domestic product,” a TECHNOLOGY 14.58 0.05
dealer said.
TURNOVER VALUE
The benchmark KLCI rose 9.66 points to close
at 915.24 after opening 9.93 points higher at 1.127bil RM1.296bil
915.51 in the morning.
Gainers led losers by 434 to 257 while 205 up half sen to 67.5 sen, Iris went up two sen
counters were unchanged, 437 still untraded and to 11.5 sen, Scomi edged up half sen to 39.5
34 suspended. sen, IOI Corp perked 18 sen to RM3.30 and
Meanwhile, the RM7 billion stimulus package Evermaster rose six sen to 23 sen.
announced by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri In heavyweights, Sime Darby was flat at
Najib Abdul Razak on Tuesday has helped boost RM6.35, MISC lost 10 sen to RM8.45, Public
interests, particularly in plantation, construction Bank was flat at RM8.70, while Maybank
and property-related shares. and Tenaga Nasional gained 10 sen each to
Among volume leaders, KNM Group inched RM6.05 and RM6.20 respectively. – Bernama

M’sia’s trade up 13.7% to

RM110b in September
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s
trade volume rose to RM110.1
billion in September, up 13.7%
from the same month last year
and paving way to hit the RM1
trillion mark again this year,
International Trade and Indus-
try Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin
Yassin said yesterday.
For the January-September
2008 period, Malaysia’s total
trade grew by 12.8% to RM915.4
billion compared with RM811.38
billion in the corresponding
period last year, he said.
Despite softening of the glo-
bal economy, exports expanded
by 15.1% to RM62.31 billion,
the second highest monthly
export value ever registered,
while imports grew by 11.9%
to RM47.78 billion, Muhyiddin
said.
“Overall, a trade surplus of
RM14.53 billion was registered
in September 2008, making it
the 131st consecutive month of
trade surplus since November
1997,” he said while unveiling
the trade figures here.
Diversification, both in prod-
ucts and markets, led exports
to expand by 16% to RM512.21
billion while imports increased
by 9.1% to RM403.19 billion, the
minister said.
The value of exports in Sep-
tember 2008 rose by 4.5% over
that of the previous month.
Muhyiddin said this monthly
increase was attributed mainly
to higher exports of electrical
and electronic (E&E) products,
which expanded to RM24.78
billion in September from
RM23.66 billion the previous
month.
Other major contributors to
the September growth were
crude petroleum, refined pe-
troleum products, optical and
scientific equipment, iron and
steel products as well as palm
oil.
For September, the top five
export destinations were Singa-
pore, the United States, China,
Japan and India. Asean continued
to be an important market with
the group’s share of Malaysia’s
total exports increasing to 26.2%
from 25.4% in the corresponding
period last year.
“Malaysia’s trade with Asean
grew by 15.9% to RM233.91
billion with exports to Asean in-
creased by 19.7% to RM134.17
billion,” Muhyiddin said.
He said for the January-Sep-
tember period, E&E products
remained Malaysia’s major
exports to Asean, accounting
for 31.4% of total exports to the
group.
According to Muhyiddin, the
outlook for Malaysia’s trade
performance in the remaining
period of 2008 and in 2009
will depend on the interplay
of various factors, including
global economic environment
and fluctuation of commod-
ity prices and exchange rates.
– Bernama

NI sets up facility in Penang

by Opalyn Mok
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
GEORGE TOWN: US-based
National Instruments (NI)
which had recently announced
its decision to invest US$80
million (RM281.6 million) in
Penang, intends to continue
expanding its facility and base
here for the next three dec-
ades.
Its chairman and chief
executive officer Dr James
Truchard said the company
chose Penang, after a two-
and-a-half-year search of
various countries in South
America, Asia and Europe,
due to the high level of coop-
eration of the Malaysian gov-
ernment and the availability
of talents here.
He said after considering
other countries and compar-
ing the infrastructure and
resources, they found that
Penang has what the company
needs – skilled engineers and
IT professionals, good regional
infrastructure and business-
friendly policies.
“Through our extensive
negotiations worldwide, we
find that Malaysian Industrial
Development Authority (Mida)
and InvestPenang are very
professional and cooperative.
“We hope to stay here for
the long term and continue to
expand and grow our facility
here in the years to come,” he
said in a press conference at
Equatorial Hotel to announce
its plans to open the R&D and
operations facility in Penang
on Tuesday morning.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng
said NI’s decision to invest in
Penang showed that the cur-
rent state government delivers
what it promises. “We have a
‘build first and then approve
later’ policy for investors look-
ing at setting up their manufac-
turing facilities here for their
convenience,” he said.
NI’s facility in Penang is the
company’s third manufactur-
ing site in its global operations
and it will be fully completed
by the middle of 2010.
It will be located on a 6.8ha
site in Bayan Lepas and it will
be able to meet customer
demands in the Asian region.
Truchard said the company
will employ about 1,500 peo-
ple in manufacturing, product
development, R&D, shared
services, IT and finance posi-
tions.
NI senior vice-president
of manufacturing and IT Alex
Davern expects the Penang
operations to contribute 40%
of the company’s revenue by
2015.
The company has around
25,000 customers globally
and had reported a record
revenue of US$618.4 million
(RM2.18 billion) for the first
eight months of the year.