KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 23): Deepavali is another major celebration in Malaysia that is not only celebrated here on Monday (Oct 24) but by Hindus from all over the world. The colourful festival celebrated by Hindus worldwide usually falls around late October or early November and this year, the auspicious day falls on Oct 24. Hindus particularly dislike dressing in black on this auspicious day. The open house visits are most certainly an interesting activity on this auspicious day as one will get to taste a wide variety of delicious Indian cuisine and cookies. Deepavali, which is an auspicious day for the Hindus and is celebrated together with other Malaysians of all backgrounds, has become a major festival in Malaysia and will continue to be one.

BEIJING (Oct 22): Former Chinese president Hu Jintao was unexpectedly escorted out of the closing ceremony of a congress of the ruling Communist Party on Saturday (Oct 22). Hu, 79, Xi Jinping's immediate predecessor, was seated to the left of Xi. Video footage published by AFP showed a steward repeatedly trying to lift Hu from his seat, drawing concerned looks from officials seated nearby. Looking distressed, Hu appeared to resist leaving as the stewards escorted him out, turning back to his seat at one point. Hu had appeared slightly unsteady last Sunday when he was assisted onto the same stage for the opening ceremony of the congress.

MUMBAI: Palm oil prices are likely to strengthen further as excessive rain in key producing countries curbs output, while demand increases for its use in food and biofuels, industry officials said. Palm oil prices have climbed by around a fifth this month but are still trading far below an all-time high set in March. "The way demand has been shifting towards palm oil from other edible oils, it's very likely that palm oil (prices) would move higher." The Black Sea region accounts for 76% of world sunflower oil exports and any disruption could result in more palm oil demand, said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of broker Sunvin Group. "Indonesian levies would make palm oil more expensive at a time the world is struggling to secure sunflower oil," said a New-Delhi based dealer.

The six-month contract was awarded by Ranhill Utilities' 80%-owned subsidiary Ranhill SAJ Sdn Bhd, with the remaining 20% stake owned by The State Secretary Johore (Inc). Ranhill SAJ is an integrated water operator in Johor and is principally involved in the abstraction of raw water, treatment of water, distribution, and sale of treated water to consumers. The group said its wholly owned subsidiary Ranhill Water Technologies Sdn Bhd secured the contract through a competitive open tender exercise undertaken by Ranhill SAJ. This is the second job Ranhill Water won from Ranhill SAJ in this month alone. Read also:Ranhill Utilities' unit gets RM9.8 mil job to build microstrainer system at Sembrong Barat Water Treatment Plant

KUALA LUMPUR: Stella Holdings Bhd has received an unconditional mandatory takeover offer notice at 95 sen per share from several joint offerors to acquire the remaining shares not held by them. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Stella said the joint offerors, Varia Engineering & Services Sdn Bhd (VES), Datuk Lau Beng Wei and Datuk Lau Beng Sin. The joint offerors have entered into an unconditional share sale and purchase agreement with several vendors to acquire in aggregate 34.66 million shares in Stelle, representing 51.73% of the total issued and paid-up share capital of Stella. The joint offerors intend to maintain the listing status of Stella on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia. Stella rose 10 sen or 10.64% to RM1.04 at midday.

PUTRAJAYA: About 21.1 million Malaysians will be eligible to vote in the 15th General Election, with nearly 1.4 million of them aged between 18 and 20, says the Election Commission (EC). This is an increase of more than six million voters compared to GE14 in 2018, when there were 14.9 million registered voters. The big jump in eligible voters was due to the “Undi18” constitutional amendment gazetted last year, which lowered the minimum voting age from 21 to 18. The amendment also removed the need for voter registration, which means Malaysians who turn 18 are automatically registered as voters. According to data from the GE15 electoral roll, 1,393,549 of the eligible voters are below 21 years old.

GEORGE TOWN (Oct 20): Two-term Batu Kawan Member of Parliament (MP) from DAP, Kasthuri Patto on Thursday announced that she will not be defending the parliamentary seat in the 15th general election (GE15). Kasthuri said it was the hardest decision in her life, but she will not change her mind because she wants to make way for future leaders in the DAP. She said the party leadership persuaded her to reconsider her decision, but she's not changing her mind about stepping down. Kasthuri said that she will continue to serve the party in its campaign in Batu Kawan or elsewhere to help the DAP and Pakatan Harapan candidates. The Election Commission on Thursday set Nov 5 as nomination day for GE15 and polling on Nov 19.

CONTRARY to the one-off prosperity tax announced in the last budget that shocked local corporates, Budget 2023 is perceived to be generally neutral, although it benefits the construction sector. The heads of research The Edge spoke to generally expect a muted impact from this “election budget”. “The absence of the prosperity tax is very good for corporate earnings. Bursa Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar concurs, noting the absence of the prosperity tax in Budget 2023. Nonetheless, Wan says there isn’t much for Corporate Malaysia in Budget 2023.

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 20): The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar on Thursday (Oct 20), as investors awaited further rate action by the US Federal Reserve (Fed), dealers said. At 9am, the local note had eased to 4.7250/7265 against the greenback, from Wednesday’s close at 4.7180/7220. However, CGS-CIMB said in a note that the weak ringgit may support Malaysia’s exports, as both tend to have a positive correlation. Meanwhile, the ringgit was higher against a basket of major currencies. It rose versus the pound to 5.2948/2965 from 5.3233/3278 on Wednesday, and increased against the Singapore dollar to 3.3146/3161 from 3.3176/3207.

PUTRAJAYA: A mechanic convicted of trafficking in 10.53g of methamphetamine escaped the gallows after the Court of Appeal acquitted and discharged him here on Wednesday (Oct 19). A Court of Appeal three-judge panel led by Justice Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said, in acquitting and discharging Ben Khaled Abd Molok, ruled that the drug trafficking conviction against him was not safe. His lawyer Afiffuddin Ahmad Hafifi said because of his client's current condition, a medical officer had to certify that Ben Khaled was fit before the lashes could be meted out. According to Ben Khaled's other lawyer Hafizuddin Salehuddin, the mechanic became paralysed in 2020 due to tuberculosis which affected his spine. Justice Kamaludin then told Ben Khaled's lawyers that their client could go back to the High Court to seek further direction or substitution for the whipping sentence if he was certified unfit.

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 19): UOB Kay Hian sees some trading opportunities tied to speculation surrounding the upcoming 15th general election (GE15). However, the foreign research firm advises investors to stick to fundamentally sound and liquid stocks. UOB Kay Hian's top picks are large-capitalisation stocks such as government-linked banks CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd and RHB Bank Bhd. They include Bermaz Auto Bhd, Hap Seng Plantations Holdings Bhd, Kim Loong Resources Bhd, Malakoff Corp Bhd, Matrix Concepts Holdings Bhd and Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust. The Parliament was dissolved on Oct 10, raising speculation that GE15 could be held on Nov 22.

BEIJING: The Chinese economy will continue to remain on a steady recovery path with supportive government measures gradually taking effect, according to China’s top economic regulator. Zhao said at a news conference here that China’s economy has maintained a recovery trend this year despite fluctuations in months such as March, April and July, thus showcasing its strong resilience and great potential. Lloyd Chan, senior economist at think tank Oxford Economics, said China’s economy has picked up in the third quarter after an unsatisfactory performance in the second quarter. “Authorities are implementing more policy measures to stabilise growth and improve the efficient deployment of resources to support employment, consumption and infrastructure investment,” Chan said. “We expect infrastructure investment will remain strong and do the heavy lifting to support growth,” he added.

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 18): Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd is expected to yield a dividend of 9% for calendar year 2022 (CY2022)-CY2023, even though its share price has fallen by a fifth since Sept 26, said CGS-CIMB. The research house has upgraded Astro to "add" from "hold", with an unchanged target price of 88 sen, following a selldown over investor concerns about weak earnings and dividends. “While piracy has eaten into Astro’s earnings, the group’s financial position remains robust, with its free cash flow over twice its net profit,” Kamarul added. However, Astro’s dividend payout has been reduced to 75%, and its payout for FY2018-22 was 31.8%-53.6%, added CGS-CIMB, with subscription revenue projected to be flat in FY2024 and slipping 2.5% year-on-year in FY2025. Nevertheless, Astro’s business model of collecting monthly subscription fees has led to strong cash flows, and its dividend payout is expected to be 49.5%-60.8% for FY2023-25, CGS-CIMB said.

It is a great pleasure to be with you all at the Sixth World Conference on Islamic Thought and Civilization. I have concentrated, in previous speeches, on the scale of the humanitarian crisis facing our world today. But it is a tragedy, too, because of what we stand to lose when we reject and deny cultural diversity. Different backgrounds, different faiths, different ethnicities: we all have so much to gain and “learn from one another”, as the Quran enjoins! Hall, “Measuring Cultural Diversity: Ethnic, Linguistic and Religious Fractionalization in the OECD”, Ethnic and Racial Studies 35:2 (2011): 195-217.

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia X Group (AAX) is increasing the number of its medium-haul Malaysia AirAsia X (D7) flights to 44 per week across 10 routes, while the Thai AirAsia X (XJ) will also be expanding its operations to 22 weekly flights across five routes in the next two months. AAX has recently launched direct services from Kuala Lumpur to South Korea (Seoul-Incheon) and India (New Delhi), and resumed services to Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth), New Zealand (Auckland), Japan (Tokyo-Haneda and Sapporo-Chitose). In a statement today, the group has also confirmed new flights to Saudi Arabia (Jeddah) and Taipei starting November. Meanwhile, Thai AirAsia X has launched services from Bangkok to Japan (Osaka and Tokyo-Narita) and South Korea (Seoul-Incheon), and is preparing to launch new direct flights to Australia (Melbourne and Sydney) and Japan (Sapporo-Chitose) early December. "We look forward to flying to Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (ISG) in the near future," he added.