Oil skids for fifth day on COVID surge, worries about more supply
Oil benchmarks have been under pressure for the last few weeks due to the rise in infections caused by the Delta variant of the coronavirus worldwide. Minutes of the U.S. Federal reserve's July 27-28 policy meeting showed officials noted the spread of the Delta variant could temporarily delay the full reopening of the economy, and restrain the jobs market. U.S. crude inventories fell 3.2 million barrels last week to 435.5 million barrels, their lowest since January 2020, according to U.S. Energy Department figures. Gasoline stocks, however, rose modestly, and gasoline product supplied to the market - a measure of demand - was 9.5 million barrels per day, just 1% below 2019 levels. Although weekly production figures are volatile, analysts noted that U.S. crude output continued its steady rise, hitting 11.4 million bpd last week.
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 19:52 UTC
Sugar rally could help India to export 6mil T without subsidy
"Even without the subsidy, India could export 6 million tonnes of sugar provided the market remains stable above 20 cents per lb," said B.B. Thombare, president of the West Indian Sugar Mills Association. Brazil's 2021/22 center-south sugar production is forecast to fall to 32.5 million tonnes from a June forecast of 34.1 million tonnes, according to food trader Czarnikow. Shares in Indian sugar producers fell by up to 5% after Reuters reported that India might withdraw sugar export subsidies. Cashing in on rising sugar prices, Indian traders have for the first time signed contracts a few months ahead of shipments to export about 725,000 tonnes of raw sugar and 75,000 tonnes of white sugar.- Reuters
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 17:37 UTC
Kids are jumping on the retail investing bandwagon, US$5 at a time
When she had kids, she wanted to teach them that “it’s not scary and intimidating.”There’s some evidence more families are realizing just that. On Public.com, an investment platform that allows users to buy fractional shares, posts on family topics—including how to teach kids about stocks—roughly doubled in the past month. For Chris Kloch, who lives near Buffalo, New York, it’s about giving his kids a head start he didn’t have. Every Sunday, he sits down with his two youngest, Alexander and Juliette, to buy US$5 slices of companies they know. Recently, the boy split US$5 between a Starbucks cake pop and a tiny bit of the company’s stock.
Source:The Edge Markets
August 18, 2021 16:10 UTC
Cops investigating viral video of TTDI dog walker
KUALA LUMPUR: A video of an elderly man swinging a stick at a woman for walking her dog in Taman Tun Dr Ismail has gone viral on social media. The incident was recorded by the woman, who is believed to have been walking her dog at that time. The man believed that the video, which was being spread on social media had slandered and embarrassed him, he added. Supt Basri reminded the public not to speculate on the viral video as the police were in the midst of investigating the matter. "Those who spread the video should come forward so that their statements can be recorded as witnesses," he said.
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 15:45 UTC
Covid-19: Almost 3,000 clusters detected since March, 53% linked to workplace outbreaks
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said out of 2,913 clusters detected since March 28, 1,549 (53%) are workplace-related outbreaks. Dr Noor Hisham said Selangor reported 414 workplace clusters – the most of all states. Kelantan has the most number of community clusters (239) followed by Sarawak (171) and Sabah (94). These community outbreaks also stemmed from festive occasions (55 clusters) and longhouse activities (44 clusters). This includes 30 workplace clusters and 13 community outbreaks.
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 13:52 UTC
Korean star Song Joong-ki sacrifices part of his 9,000sq ft property for his neighbours' benefit
Sometime in July, it was reported that South Korean actor Song Joong-ki had a bit of a conflict with his neighbours due to renovations done to his property at Itaewon, Seoul. According to a Korean news portal, residents living in this neighbourhood filed a complaint after a public road bordering Song’s property was repaved. Apparently, the 35-year-old star offered to give up 1,500 sq ft of the 9,000 sq ft property, which comes up to 16.7% reduction to his land, said the article. Another upcoming project for Song is, revenge K-drama titled Chaebol Family's Youngest Son (working title) in which he will be starring alongside actor Lee Sung-min. It centres on a chaebol family’s secretary who is reincarnated as the family’s youngest son.
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 12:00 UTC
PAS removes congratulatory posts to Taliban on social media
KUALA LUMPUR: PAS has removed all congratulatory posts to the Taliban-led government of Afghanistan to avoid the party from being blocked on social media sites, says its International Affairs and Foreign Relations committee. Its secretary Khidhir Izaidin said the Islamist party's previous post was removed by Facebook for not following the social media site's community standards. "In this regard, we decided to remove all our posts on our social media platforms to avoid being blocked by other social media sites," he said in a statement on Friday (Aug 18). His "congratulatory message" has since drawn flak on social media, many of whom questioned if PAS was supporting the Taliban. The Taliban has been banned from Facebook for several years, with all accounts maintained on behalf of the Taliban removed.
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 10:52 UTC
Fuel prices Aug 19-25 unchanged across the board
KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Retail prices of RON97 and RON95 petrol as well as diesel remain unchanged from Aug 19-25. The price of RON97 petrol remains at RM2.74 per litre, RON95 (RM2.05) and diesel (RM2.15). The Finance Ministry, in a statement on Wednesday (Aug 18), said the prices were set based on the weekly retail prices of petroleum products using the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM). "To protect consumers from the effect of the actual price increase of oil on the global market, the government has maintained RON95 at the ceiling price of RM2.05 per litre and diesel at RM2.15 per litre, although the actual market prices for both products have exceeded the ceiling price set," it said. It said the government would continue to monitor the effects of changes in world crude oil prices and take appropriate measures to protect the welfare and well-being of the people.
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 09:45 UTC
Late buying helps KLCI close higher
Among the KLCI component stocks, 14 counters closed higher while 14 counters fell. Top gainers on Bursa Malaysia included Carlsberg, which added 60 sen to RM22.10, Heineken Malaysia added 56 sen to RM22.80 and KESM gained 44 sen to RM12.66. Among the KLCI component stocks, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 38 sen to RM19.80 and Sime Plantation advanced 11 sen to RM3.85 after its strong earnings. Petronas Gas gained 16 sen at RM16.10, Top Glove added 16 sen to RM3.93 and Hartalega climbed 14 sen to RM7.21. China’s CSI300 index rose 1.2% to 4,894.24, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.1% to 3,485.29.
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 09:33 UTC
Moderna co-founder sees potential for annual Covid-19 boosters
(Aug 18): With governments around the world debating whether to authorize Covid-19 vaccine booster doses, Moderna Inc co-founder Noubar Afeyan envisions a time when the shot could become routine. “Public health officials are going to have to decide if everybody should get a booster shot,” he said in an interview on “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations” that’s airing on Bloomberg TV on Wednesday. Full approvalAfeyan said the company is hoping in the next couple of months for full US approval for its Covid-19 vaccine, which is currently authorized for emergency use. World leaders clamoured for access to the vaccine before approval, Afeyan recalled. “I did get calls that I never thought I would ever get before from many, many country leaders,” he said.
Source:The Edge Markets
August 18, 2021 09:11 UTC
Tencent second-quarter profit rises 29%, beats estimates
SHANGHAI:Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent Holdings posted a 29% rise in second-quarter profit, a slower pace of growth after the coronavirus pandemic led to a boom in online gaming last year. Net profit for the three months through June came in at 42.6 billion yuan, above an average Refinitiv estimate drawn from 13 analysts of 34.4 billion yuan. Revenue climbed 20% to 138.3 billion yuan, in line with expectations. That fallout saw Tencent temporarily lose its crown as Asia's biggest company by market capitalisation to chipmaker TSMC earlier this week. Tencent has said the company is very focused on compliance and risk management.
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 08:48 UTC
Malaysia and Japan to clash in group stage of Thomas Cup finals
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia and Japan have been drawn in the same group for the prestigious Thomas Cup men's team championship in Aarhus, Denmark from Oct 9-17. In the draw released on Wednesday (Aug 18), five-time champions Malaysia should face little trouble reaching the quarter-finals as top two finishers in Group D.The other two teams in Group D are England and Canada. Defending champions China and Denmark, the 2016 winners, are the favourites in Group C and Group D respectively. They have been drawn into Group D with 14-time winners China, Denmark and Canada. THOMAS CUPGROUP A: Indonesia, Taiwan, Algeria, ThailandGroup B: Denmark, South Korea, France, GermanyGroup C: China, India, Netherlands, TahitiGroup D: Japan, Malaysia, Canada, EnglandUBER CUPGroup A: Japan, Indonesia, Germany, FranceGroup B: Thailand, India, Spain, ScotlandGroup C: South Korea, Taiwan, Tahiti, EgyptGroup D: China, Denmark, Malaysia, Canada
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 08:37 UTC
Sept 30 date set for Appeals Court decision on judicial review application challenging suspension of Parliament
PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): Four elected representatives will know on Sept 30 whether they can proceed to commence a judicial review to challenge Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's move to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Parliament and state assembly sitting suspension during the Emergency. They were appealing against the decisions of two separate High Courts in refusing to grant them leave to commence the judicial review applications. Gurdial Singh said the issues raised in the judicial review, among others, on whether the provisions of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 suspending Parliament and state assemblies were lawful, were clearly arguable. Senior federal counsel Suzana Atan, appearing for Muhyiddin and the Malaysian government, who were named as respondents in the leave for judicial review applications, contended that the court must be clothed with jurisdiction to entertain the judicial review applications. On Jan 26, this year, Salahuddin, Johari and Abdul Aziz filed the leave applications seeking relief from the court over the proclamation of emergency, while Hassan filed his application for leave to initiate judicial review on Jan 27, this year.
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 07:52 UTC
Covid-19: Vaccination rollout, pandemic efforts to continue as planned, say ministries
PETALING JAYA: The Covid-19 vaccination programme and efforts to manage the pandemic will continue as planned, said the Health Ministry and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti). The vaccination momentum remains consistent where 501,776 doses were given on Aug 16,” they said. They added that the ministries have also secured the procurement of various Covid-19 vaccines which are Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac, with 33,879,979 doses distributed for vaccination purposes as of Aug 16. The Covid-19 vaccines, they added, have been effective in bringing down infection rates and reducing the number of severe Covid-19 cases. “After the implementation of Operation Surge Capacity in the Klang Valley, there has been a decrease in hospital admissions and bed usage at the ICU.
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 07:41 UTC
AirAsia goodies galore for new The Star Digital Access members
PETALING JAYA: Star Media Group Bhd (SMG) is partnering with the AirAsia Super App to bring extra perks and benefits to new members of The Star Digital Access. Both the six-month and one-year Digital Access membership plans are eligible for this promotion. Both membership plans provide full access to content and features on TheStar.com.my and The Star Malaysia app. Launched as the Asean Super App in October 2020, the AirAsia Super App is a travel and lifestyle mobile app that offers safe and convenient contactless solutions so everyone can perform their daily routines effortlessly from their own home or workplace. Readers can subscribe to The Star Digital Access membership via their web browser at thestar.com.my/subscribe or via The Star Malaysia app.
Source:The Star
August 18, 2021 07:30 UTC