Trading ideas: Astro, Sunway, Straits Inter Logistics, Destini, Maxis

KUALA LUMPUR: Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd, Sunway Bhd, STRAITS INTER LOGISTICS BHD, Destini Bhd and Maxis Bhd are among the stocks to watch on Friday, according to JF Apex Research.

The research house noted that Astro’s second quarter net profit swelled to RM169.34mil, 10 times more than the RM16.58mil a year ago on the back of lower finance costs and higher earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

Sunway’s indirectly-owned joint venture company Tianjin Eco-City Sunway Property Development Co Ltd has submitted a winning bid of RMB438 million (about RM257.78mil) to acquire a parcel of land in Tianjin, China.

Straits Inter Logistics has signed a Memorandum of Agreement to acquire a 13-year-old oil tanker named Poseidon for a total of US$4.84mil or RM20.45mil cash from Hibiscus Fuels Ltd.

Destini has proposed a private placement to raise approximately RM49.67mil in funds for the repayment of bank borrowings and working capital purposes.

Maxis has forged a strategic partnership with a global technology leader, Cisco, to jointly deliver a wide range of market-leading technologies for businesses in Malaysia.

The first of many planned joint offerings from this partnership for the Malaysian market is the Managed Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) solution for business.

Overnight, US markets rose for a 7th consecutive day, climbing towards record highs after new tariffs on China were delayed and the European Central Bank announced new stimulus.

Earlier, European stocks surged after the ECB cut interest rates and introduced a new bond buying program.

“Following the bullish performance in the US and Europe, the FBM KLCI could climb towards its resistance of 1,630 points, ” JF Apex said.

The research house said the benchmark index was on an uptrend since May after rebounding from a low of 1,570 points and tested the 200-day moving average below 1,700 points before declining in July.

“The downtrend in July broke the 50- and 100-day moving averages. After last month’s flattish trend, the FBM KLCI could continue to trend sideways above the support of 1,590 points, ” it added.

Source: TheStar