16 œ theSun | TUESDAY APRIL 28 2009

KLCI 980.12 T
12.56 Nikkei 8,726.34 S
18.35
business STI 1,818.61 T
34.24 TSEC 5,705.05 175.72
T
Hang Seng 14,840.42 418.43
T KOSPI 1,339.83 T
14.27 KLCI
SCI 2,405.35 T
43.25 S&P/ASX200 3,731.60 S
19.30 Points

KL market summary
Prices close lower on profit-taking INDICES
APRIL 27, 2009
CHANGE
SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia closed to the market.
lower yesterday as investors took profit from Losers led gainers by 510 to 184 while FBMEMAS 6,470.59 -100.59
COMPOSITE 980.12 -12.56
the recent run-up, dealers said. 169 counters were unchanged, 379 untraded INDUSTRIAL 2,242.06 -15.79
The benchmark KLCI fell 1.27% or 12.56 and 36 others suspended. CONSUMER PROD 298.59 -2.00
points to close the day at 980.12. The key Topping the actives list, Talam rose 1.5 INDUSTRIAL PROD 74.47 -0.60
index had opened 3.07 points higher at sen to 8.5 sen, Ramunia advanced 11.5 sen CONSTRUCTION 185.78 -3.94
995.75 in the morning. to 65.0 sen and Time dotCom added one sen TRADING SERVICES 131.51 -2.41
Dealers said profit taking activities in to 33.5 sen. FINANCE 7,528.95 -81.01

AirAsia, Maybank
the major plantation and financial stocks KNM Group shed 2.5 sen to 55.0 sen and PROPERTIES 607.26 -6.53
PLANTATIONS 4,992.77 -54.12
dragged down the key index into negative SAAG Consolidated lost two sen to 26 sen. MINING 259.38 -16.22
territory. Of the heavyweights, Sime Darby, Tenaga FBMSHA 6,780.14 -88.93
They said news of the outbreak of swine
flu in Mexico also dampened the local market
sentiment as well as regional markets.
and Bumiputra-Commerce all declined 15
sen each to RM6.50, RM7.10 and RM8
respectively.
FBM2BRD
TECHNOLOGY
4,309.56
12.78
-0.66
-0.21 and Amex tie up
However, they said the announcement
of the liberalisation measures for the coun-
try’s financial sector had provided support
Maybank shed four sen to RM4.46, IOI
Corp lost eight sen to RM4.32 while MISC
rose five sen to RM8.50. – Bernama
TURNOVER
2.11 bil
VALUE
RM1.418bil to boost travel
by Hemananthani Sivanandam
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia now accepts American Express

M’sia exports picking up,

(Amex) cards for bookings.
The airline yesterday announced its alliance with May-
bank and American Express on its acceptance of Amex.
However, the roll-out started earlier on April 2 and has
chalked up 12,000 transactions to date.
The partnership extends the value-for-money travel
benefits on AirAsia to all Amex cardmembers.

says Muhyiddin
JOHOR BARU: Malaysia’s exports
of electrical and electronics parts and
components have started to pick up
following positive impact from China’s
stimulus package, Deputy Prime
Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
said yesterday.
“This is an indication of a probable
recovery in our export value, particu-
larly in electrical and electronics parts
and components.
However, we cannot be over
confident as generally the situation in
our country has not returned to nor-
malcy,” he told reporters after closing
the Malaysia Unit Trust Week 2009.
Muhyiddin said the government
was still monitoring goings-on
throughout the world especially in the
United States, Europe and regional
countries.
The deputy prime minister said
the RM67 billion stimulus package
announced by Prime Minister Daruk
Seri Najib Abdul Razak is being im-
plemented in stages and the impact
would be seen in three months.
“We are giving emphasis on how
the huge allocations are going to be
spent. There must not only be an im-
pact but also higher output,” he said.
Earlier, in his speech, Muhyiddin
said Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s (PNB)
efforts to provide integrated invest-
ment education by giving emphasis to
all Malaysians must be emulated.
The deputy prime minister said he
believed the initiative was carefully
planned and was now showing frui-
tion through the Unit Trust Week.
“This showed PNB was serious in
educating the masses on investment,
especially in unit trust schemes, thus
increasing learned people and invest-
ment literate,” he said.
Muhyiddin said it was crucial to
step up efforts to enrich the people’s
awareness and knowledge on invest-
ment potentials in unit trust schemes
and their contributions to the nation’s
economic growth.
He said PNB’s emphasis on risks
and returns must be given keen at-
tention as understanding of the two
concepts would enable investors to be
aware of the dividend rate and share
price fluctuations. – Bernama
Giggs
beats
teammates
The alliance is expected to grow inbound and outbound
travel by attracting high-spending American Express card-
members to fly with AirAsia.
American Express International senior vice-president,
head of global network services, Japan, Asia Pacific and
Australia, Kula Kulendran, said the partnership reaffirms
the company’s long-term commitment to offer innovative
products and services to its customers in Malaysia and
to player world travellers.
“The partnership with AirAsia and Maybank leverages
of the year American Express’ leadership position and heritage in both
award corporate travel and premium consumer segments.”
pg 28 Apart from supporting the partnership, AirAsia is also
extending its popular low fares to American Express card-
holders. Flights from Kuala Lumpur are as low as RM5 to
Singapore, Kuching and Bangkok (RM25), Jakarta (RM45),
Tianjin in Beijing and Perth, (RM500), Melbourne and Gold
Coast (RM800) and London (RM1,500). These fares are
valid for bookings made from April 27 to May 3 at AirAsia’s
website for travel between July 1 and Nov 30.
The airline, which saw a 21% year-on-year increase in its
passenger volume for the first quarter this year, is confident
the number will grow further with Amex onboard.
“We’re reaching a new market that wasn’t there before,”
said AirAsia Group CEO Datuk Sri Tony Fernandes at a press
conference to announce the alliance yesterday.
He said the partnership will benefit more American

US auto union strikes deal with Chrysler
DETROIT: The United Auto
Workers union says it has
reached a tentative deal with
Chrysler and Italian giant Fiat
and the US Treasury, clearing a
major hurdle to bolster the US
automaker’s viability.
The settlement agreement,
which was subject to ratification
by UAW members at Chrysler by
Wednesday, came closely after a
separate deal was struck between
the automaker and the Canadian
Auto Workers (CAW) union.
“The provisional agreement
provides the framework needed
to ensure manufacturing com-
petitiveness and helps to meet
the guidelines set forth by the
US Treasury Department,”
Chrysler chief bargainer Al
Iacobelli said in a statement
Sunday. “As a result, Chrysler
LLC can continue to pursue a
partnership with Fiat SpA.”
White House economic
adviser Larry Summers earlier
voiced hope that talks to save
Chrysler will succeed, four days
before a deadline to reach a deal
to unite with Fiat runs out.
“We’re hopeful that the
negotiations which have been
proceeding with great energy
are going to conclude success-
fully,” Summers said on Fox
News Sunday. “You never know
with any negotiation until the
very end.
“There are some issues that
have been worked out. There
are some issues that remain to
be worked out. But it’s in every-
body’s interest, we believe, to see
these negotiations succeed, and
we’re hopeful that they will.”
The US administration has
given Chrysler until Thursday
to reach a deal to tie up with
Fiat or risk seeing government
loans cut off. Chrysler is set to
obtain US$500 million (RM1.82
billion) on top of US$4 billion
(RM14.56 billion) already
received in loans from the US
government. – AFP
Express cardmembers as they can now fly to more destina-
tions with lower fares and more flights to choose from.
Maybank executive vice-president and head of cards
and payments, and consumer banking, Ashraf Ali Abdul
Kadir, said the acceptance of Amex cards will expand the
international brand recognition of AirAsia to include millions
of cardmembers worldwide to travel to more destinations
covered by the airline.
He said Maybank, which is the sole issuer and manager
of American Express Charge Card and merchant acquiring
businesses in Malaysia since 2006, has tripled the number
of Amex cardholders in Malaysia.
“This has resulted in a growth of 93% in card spending
by American Express cardmembers in Malaysia.”
He also said the bank is offering two times the reward
points when Amex cardmembers use their cards to make
payments to AirAsia.

Swine flu: Is SARS a guide for the economic impact?

SINGAPORE: As fears grow about
whether a new dangerous strain of
swine flu will develop into a global
pandemic and affect economies, Asia
can look to the 2003 SARS epidemic
for pointers on what might happen. In
2003, Asia was feeling the effects of
the October 2002 Bali bombings, a ten-
tative world recovery was under way
from the bursting of the technology
bubble and there was conflict in Iraq.
Likewise today, other factors, such
as job and income losses from the
credit crisis, could make it difficult
to isolate the effects of any swine flu
outbreak.
But SARS provides the last main
point of reference in how the world
dealt with a pandemic that was spread
by human-to-human contact and how
it affected economies and markets.
Here are some questions and an-
swers about the severe acute respira-
tory syndrome, or SARS, crisis:
What was the impact of SARS on
Asia?
The World Health Organisation de-
clared SARS a pandemic in March
2003. By June of that year, it had lifted
an advisory warning against travelling
to SARS affected countries.
There were some 8,000 cases and
close to 800 deaths. The most visible
impact of SARS was on tourism and
consumption patterns in the most
affected countries: Singapore, Hong-
kong, China and Malaysia, although
others in the region also suffered.
Singapore and Hongkong slipped into
recession in 2003.
Other countries affected by SARS
included Canada, South Africa, Swe-
den, France and the United States.
Deaths were reported in Asia, Canada,
France and South Africa.
According to the Asian Develop-
ment Bank, the cost of SARS in terms
of lost GDP in nominal terms for East
and Southeast Asia was about US$18
billion (RM65.52 billion) or 0.6 percent-
age points of 2003 GDP.
The main channels through which
SARS affected economies was through
tourist arrivals. ADB data shows a 20-
70% drop on tourist arrivals in April
2003 in the most affected economies,
while others in Asia also saw declines
of 15-35%, leading to estimated tour-
ism revenue losses of nearly US$15
billion or 0.5 percent of GDP.
SARS-affected economies expe-
rienced drops in retail sales growth
in the order of 5-10% in early 2003.
Hongkong’s economy shrank 2.6%
and Singapore’s by 2% in the first half
of 2003. Overall growth was ironically
helped by a simultaneous decline in
imports and investment.
How did markets react to SARS?
Market reaction was relatively muted,
possibly because the panic over SARS
lasted for just about one quarter and
governments reacted quickly.
The Singapore dollar fell nearly 4%
against the US dollar between the end
of January 2003 and the end of April
2003, but it then rallied.
MCSI’s emerging Asia-ex-Japan
index fell around 14% between Janu-
ary and March 2003. From the end of
March it rallied by 56% during the rest
of the year. Hongkong’s benchmark
index shed 18% of its value between
December 2002 and April 2003, bot-
toming at a four-year low.
What economic measures were im-
plemented in response to SARS?
China had price controls for SARS-
related drugs, tax waivers for affected
industries such as hotels, interest
subsidies for tourism sectors.
Hongkong’s government an-
nounced a package of measures worth
around 1% of GDP, which included
tax reductions and loan guarantees.
Singapore likewise had a SARS relief
package including measures for air-
lines. It also eased monetary policy in
July 2003 by a one-off devaluation of
the currency. Malaysia’s package was
close to 2 percent of GDP and included
cheaper loans, support for job training
and tourism sectors.
Is the economic situation different
now?
The starting point for most economies
is much lower, since the credit crisis
has already plunged a lot of the de-
veloped world and countries such as
Singapore, Japan and Hongkong into
recession.
Tourism received a big boost
between 2004 and 2007 and is now
a much bigger contributor to growth,
with revenues comprising between
6-9% of GDP in Hongkong, Malaysia,
Thailand and Singapore. – Reuters