Its chief executive officer, Tajuddin Atan, said yesterday the move, which is for three years, was a recognition of the importance of this market segment.

“This will further boost our current initiatives such as the Mid and Small Cap (MidS) Research Scheme and the Leading Entrepreneur Accelerator Platform (LEAP) Market,” he said.

Prime Minister Najib Razak yesterday announced a raft of initiatives would be taken to stimulate vibrancy of the local bourse.

In his keynote address at the World Capital Market Symposium 2018, Najib said the waiver of the stamp duty was to enhance better value recognition and vibrancy in this segment of the stock market, as well as to encourage greater investor participation.

After extensive discussions with the Securities Commission, Najib said several measures would also be implemented to enhance the local stock market.

Tajuddin said these measures would strengthen its long-standing efforts aimed towards increasing the depth and breadth of the capital market.

“Furthermore, these liberalisations as well as incentives granted will enhance the vibrancy and liquidity of our market,” he said.

Tajuddin also welcomed the proposed establishment of a stock market trading link between Bursa Malaysia and Singapore Exchange (SGX).

Najib announced the trading link would allow investors to trade and settle shares listed on each other’s stock market in a more convenient and cost efficient manner.

“Bursa Malaysia is committed in our pursuit to strengthen our proposition as Asean’s multinational marketplace with global connectivity and the stock market trading link between Bursa Malaysia and SGX announced by the Prime Minister earlier could potentially be a step towards this goal,” he said.

The exchange will work with SGX, the industry and the relevant regulatory bodies in operationalising this cross-border initiative.

In a statement, central bank governor Nestor Espenilla said the January inflation rate – which, according to government, hit a three-year high of 4 per cent – was expected by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), even as he admitted that the figure was “at the top end” of their forecasts.

The latest inflation rate is up significantly from the 3.3 per cent posted in December, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, due to higher costs of food, beverages and tobacco – the most aggressive increase in prices since October 2014.

The BSP chief attributed the higher pace of price increases to the combined effects of President Rodrigo Duterte’s tax hikes implemented last month, and the rise in world oil prices, “and food [prices] to some extent.”

The acceleration of the inflation rate in January caught market watchers off guard and prompted speculation that the central bank would hike its key interest rates when the policy making Monetary Board convened on Thursday.

“BSP could hike rates as early as Thurs following the surge in January headline consumer price index,” Bank of the Philippine Islands lead economist Jun Neri said in a post on Twitter following the inflation announcement.

Meanwhile, ING Bank economist Joey Cuyegkeng said: “The likelihood of a tightening move at Thursday’s meeting has increased significantly.”

Nonetheless, Espenilla gave no indication that the central bank would be jolted into tightening monetary policy earlier in the year because of the latest inflation numbers. “We think these are temporary drivers of inflation and would eventually stabilise,” he said.

Espenilla will likely come out with more hawkish language going forward, or move forward plans of monetary tightening, f the BSP opts to keep interest rates unchanged this week

The central bank chief said that the central bank is ready to hike policy rates if it sees that price increases threaten to spiral out of control.

“The BSP will be closely monitoring the situation and stand ready to take timely action based on our evaluation of all relevant data,” he said.

Dien dan doanh nghiep (Business Forum) newspaper reported that these banks are Vietcombank, BIDV, VietinBank, MBBank and VIB.

Vietcombank received the largest proportion of the deposits, at nearly 165.1 trillion dong, three times higher than the end of September. The State Treasury’s deposits at Vietcombank included a recent State divestment deal from Sabeco, worth US$5 billion, or more than 113 trillion dong.

The Treasury also deposited nearly 11.1 trillion dong in Vietinbank by the end of last year.

According to experts, inter-bank interest rates plunged because of massive capital flows into the Vietnamese market and difficulties in public investment disbursements, prompting the State Treasury to transfer large deposits from the State Bank of Vietnam to commercial banks last year.

In contrast to previous years when liquidity was typically short at the end of the year due to the rise in payment needs, the liquidity of the banking system at the end of 2017 remained abundant, partly thanks to the state funds, the experts said.

The Saigon Securities Incorporation (SSI) said the good liquidity at the banking system last year was primarily because of the reasonably controlled credit growth (18.1 per cent) and secondly due to the slow disbursement of public investment, which was why a large amount of the State Treasury’s capital was deposited in the five banks.

Moreover, the situation was also attributable to the surplus in the balance of payments, the high foreign exchange reserve and the increase in the domestic currency supply to the market from the SBV, the SSI said.

Earlier in July last year, the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research also reported the State Treasury’s deposits in the banking system are considered the main reason for the high liquidity in the market.

“The slow disbursement of public investment helped increase the State Treasury’s deposits in commercial banks, reducing pressure on interest rates,” it said.

With the abundant liquidity in the banking system, commercial banks last year also increased their investment in long-term bonds. Earlier, bonds with a tenure of 30 years were mainly bought by insurance companies, but last year saw a drastic shift when banks bought nearly 15 trillion dong out of 28 trillion dong worth of 30-year bonds.

Of the 32 revoked regulations, 11 come from the ministry’s Directorate General of Oil and Gas, seven come from the Directorate General of Mineral and Coal, seven come from the Directorate General of Renewable Energy and four come from the Directorate General of Electricity.

In January, the ministry’s electricity office revoked 11 regulations or merged them into the newly launched Decree No. 2/2018 on Indonesian National Standards in the power generation sector.

“The president has instructed us to decrease [the amount of] regulations to boost business and investment activities in the country,” Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan said.

“This will not stop here. Within the next one to two weeks, we will revoke more regulations.”

The 11 revoked regulations from the oil and gas sector include ones related to work safety, the development of marginal oil fields, the use of foreign workers and the management of state facilities in upstream oil and gas operations.

Meanwhile, the seven revoked regulations from the renewable energy sector include ones related to the purchase of electricity generated from hydropower plants with a capacity lower than 10 megawatts and solar photovoltaic power plants.

The ministry’s secretary-general, Ego Syahrial, said most provisions in the revoked regulations were covered in other regulations.

Broadcom, led by ambitious chief executive officer Tan Hock Eng, is seeking to build a behemoth chip company to get major market share and lock in billions of dollars being spent by telecom companies to build out the 5G network, according to a Reuters report.

Tan, an MBA degree holder from Harvard University, worked with Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan as managing director of Hume Industries in Malaysia from 1983 to 1988 before leading a venture capital fund in Singapore from 1988 to 1992. According to reports, the 65-year-old also held financial positions at General Motors Co and PepsiCo Inc before joining the technology sector at Commodore International Ltd.

In the new offer, Broadcom has kept the cash part of the deal at US$60 per share – the same as its previous offer – but increased the stock part to US$22 worth of Broadcom shares from US$10.

In the wake of the revised offer, Qualcomm shares were down as much as 3 per cent at US$64.13 in early trade. Broadcom shares were up 1 per cent at US$238.

“Qualcomm and its board now have a tough decision as this is a compelling offer in our opinion,” said analyst Daniel Ives of GBH Insights.

In what would be the largest tech deal in history, Broadcom said it was willing to increase the cash part of the deal if the transaction is not completed within a year after any definitive agreement, and would pay Qualcomm a significant “reverse termination fee” if regulators scuttle the deal.

Broadcom could pay a break-up fee of up to US$10 billion to Qualcomm, CNBC reported citing sources.

Qualcomm said it would review the revised proposal and will have no further comment on the proposal until its board has completed its review.

Broadcom said it remained confident that the deal would be completed within 12 months following a definitive agreement.

Qualcomm had said that the regulatory review processes required around the world would take much longer.

Any deal between the two companies would attract significant scrutiny across several countries where they operate. The US Federal Trade Commission last month made a second request for information on Broadcom’s bid.

The new offer also puts pressure on Qualcomm to either buy NXP Semiconductors NV at US$110 per share or terminate the US$38 billion deal. NXP shareholders had held up a deal, saying it undervalued the company and had sought a price as high as US$135.

If Qualcomm accepts Broadcom’s offer, it would have to drop the NXP bid as it is unlikely that NXP shareholders would accept the original price after clamouring for a higher price.

NXP shares were slightly down at $119.83.

In November, Qualcomm rejected Broadcom’s US$70 per share cash-and-stock bid that valued it at US$103 billion.

Qualcomm had said Broadcom’s offer significantly undervalued the company. Reuters reported exclusively on Sunday that Broadcom had planned to raise its offer.

After Qualcomm rejected its earlier offer, Broadcom and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners took the offer hostile by nominating 11 directors to its board in December. Qualcomm later rejected the nominees.

Shareholders will vote for or against the nominees at an annual meeting on March 6.

Singapore-based Broadcom is known for its connectivity chips used in products ranging from mobile phones to servers and Qualcomm provides chips to mobile carrier networks to deliver broadband and data – a business that will benefit significantly due to the roll out of 5G wireless technology.

Accenture has estimated that wireless operators will invest as much as US$275 billion in the United States alone over seven years as they build out 5G.

SIA Engineering Company (SIAEC) is going into a joint venture with GE Aviation to form an engine overhaul company based in Singapore.

The joint venture, which will be 51 per cent owned by GE and 49 per cent by SIAEC, will combine GE Aviation’s design, engineering and innovation strengths with SIAEC’s expertise and delivery in maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services.

It will leverage GE’s “Brilliant Factory” concepts, and use robotics, digitalisation and data analytics to enhance productivity.

The state-of-the-art facility in Singapore is strategic to broadening SIAEC’s capabilities in next generation aircraft, said its chief executive Png Kim Chiang in a statement on Tuesday (Feb 6).

“The joint venture will leverage on the joint strengths of GE’s technical know-how and SIAEC’s maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) experience, to offer high quality and competitive maintenance solutions for GE engines,” he said.

GE Aviation Services president and chief executive Jean Lydon-Rodgers said that the new joint venture will ensure that the firm’s GE90 and GE9X operators have access to high quality MRO capabilities. – The Straits Times

Surge in credit growth

Credit Bureau Cambodia (CBC) has released its report for the fourth quarter of 2017, which showed significant growth in applications for credit, particularly in the credit card and mortgage sectors.

The bureau reported a 19 percent increase in applications for credit compared to the third quarter of last year, which surpassed the third quarter growth rate of 10 percent and the second quarter negative growth rate of 15 percent.

Applications for new lines of credit grew fastest in the plateau region, which usually ranks as Cambodia’s poorest region and includes Kratie, Mondulkiri, Ratanakkiri, Stung Treng and Preah Vihear provinces. The growth in that region was primarily driven by mortgage applications, which grew a whopping 271 percent, compared to the 62 percent growth in mortgage applications countrywide. – Phnom Penh Post

Indonesia-Cambodia trade

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and Indonesia amounted to $492.7 million in the first 11 months of last year, a 23 percent increase compared to the same period in 2016, according to a report from an Indonesian state-run news agency.

Indonesian Antara reported the growth in bilateral trade, noting that Indonesia had invested primarily in the fields of culinary arts, housing, transportation and infrastructure improvements in Cambodia. The news came at the end of a three-day visit by Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs Prak Sokhonn, who left Indonesia on Saturday. – Phnom Penh Post

A study by the Ministry of Science and ICT showed that between 2012 and 2017, the proportion of households that owned smartphones rose from 65 per cent to 94.1 per cent, while those that owned computers dropped from 82.3 per cent to 74.7 per cent, with a 20.1 percentage point drop in desktop PC ownership.

Part of the change was driven by the rise of single- and two-member households, which showed the largest decrease in computer ownership over the five-year period. These smaller households are only half as likely to own a computer compared to households with three people or more.

Major internet activities, such as online shopping, online banking, and social media, all showed shifts to smartphones from desktops.

In particular, respondents who said that they used their smartphones for shopping rose from 23.8 percent to 90.6 per cent over the five-year period, while those who used smartphones for banking rose from 29.2 per cent to 90.5 per |cent. The rapid popularisation of smartphones was largely influenced by the movement of internet-based activities to smartphones,” the ministry said in a release.

Enjoying content on smartphones has also increased rapidly, according to statistics from the Korea Communications Commission. Among respondents in last year’s survey, roughly half said that they used their smartphones at least once a week to play videos, while about 25 per cent said that they used their smartphones to play TV shows at least once a |week.

For textual content such as newspaper or magazine articles, nearly four-fifths of respondents said that they used their smartphones.

Among respondents who said that they used their smartphones to play TV content, the proportion was highest among respondents in their teens and 20s, indicating that the younger market for TVs may be on the decline.

Last year, 56.4 per cent of surveyed respondents said that they felt their smartphone was the most important device for their everyday life, while 38.1 per cent said that it was their TV.

In 2013, TVs had remained in the top spot with 46.3 per cent of respondents saying it was their most important device, and smart phones at 37.3 per cent.