Highlights of the day
§ Economics: (Money and Banking) December 2011: Strong loans growth, more room for looser monetary policy [download report]
Total loans grew strongly by 13.6% y-o-y in December 2011, driven by business loans. Margin compression seen throughout 2010 and 2011 appears to have halted. Meanwhile as expected, the Monetary Policy Committee maintained the Overnight Policy Rate at 3.0%. With the economy is expected to slow and with less inflationary pressure around, we expect the MPC to loosen up the monetary policy by committing to a 25bps cut in March 2012 during its second meeting of the year.
Other reports
§ Newz Bits [download report]
Other Malaysian news
§ IJM Corp, Ahmad Zaki: Receive letters of acceptance from MRT
§ Kumpulan Europlus: Incentives don’t make project a sweetheart deal
§ DRB-Hicom, Proton: Auto chief denies speculation, unit to distribute Spyder
§ UM Land: To start mixed project in downtown Johor Baru
§ AutoV Corp: DRB-Hicom-Proton’s integration may widen opportunities for vendors
§ Automobile: Perodua to develop own model
§ Construction: List on 90 packages of jobs MRT to be unveiled
§ Media: Adex up 12% in 2011
§ Oil & Gas: TNB, Petronas to invest RM2bn in gas plant and LNG terminal
§ Rubber: Biggest growers to produce less rubber
Global news
§ US : ADP says US
§ US
§ US: Construction spending climbs by most in four months
§ US
§ Europe : Greek bondholders said set to get GDP sweetener
§ Europe : ECB Says Banks Will Tighten Credit Standards on Fiscal Crisis
§ China
§ South Korea
§ Indonesia
§ Thailand
§ Global: Manufacturing picks up as Europe ’s slump eases
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