Philippines report first death outside China (Highlights from TheEdge Feb3rd)

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Malaysia
  • Airbus has allegedly bribed key decision makers (Airasia Executive 1 and Executive 2) most likely to be Tony and Kamarudin $50 millions to buy their aircraft. AirAsia has declared that it has no involvement in the allegations as procuring aircraft were not made solely by individual decisions but thorough evaluations and collective decisions of the board member. Another tragedy for our local LCC, but I think there will be opportunity amidst the disaster. “Fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful".
  • Overnight policy rate (OPR) cut has benefited real estate investment trust (REITs), as the Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) has became less attractive as yield goes down. Currently, REITs in Bursa Malaysia provide yields at above 4% whereas bank's FD rate has gone down to lower than 3%. Considering the risk-to-reward, REITs became the better obvious in the appetite of the investors. However, Wuhan virus is expected to impact REITs negatively as tourism and retail activities take toll. 
  • GENTING, GENM, AirAsia, AAX amongst are among the worst stocks hit after the Coronavirus outbreak. There is no sign of slowing down, as Philippines has reported its first death outside of China yesterday, and China reported more than 300 death. Analyst said countries that are reliant on China's trade and tourism will be negatively impact, with Singapore and Thailand seen as the ones most hit within Asean. Malaysia and Vietnam however will expect to have a smaller negative impact. (Hmm.. China is Malaysia's number one export country though my brother..)
  • China tourist takes up almost 1% of Malaysia's GDP, and is the third largest tourist source after Singapore and Indonesia, as of 2020. During SARS, Malayisa's total tourism plunged 17% y-o-y in 2003, with China's falling 39% y-o-y. At that time, China tourist were accounted for 4% of total tourist, but it has increased to 19% in Q319, hence the impact is expected to be severe. 
  • Bursa CEO said IPO will remain healthy with 19 listings this year despite the Wuhan virus. It targets 40 at the end of the year with more listings upcoming from Mr.DIY, potential IPO from Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH), speculated to be in the next half of 2020.
  • Guan Eng said the opposition's allegation of the 18% toll reduction by Pakatan is misleading. Opposition said it actually makes people lose more money as government extended the concession period for another 20 years. Guan Eng retaliates by saying the previous government raised the concession toll rate by 5% every three years. 
  • Government allocates RM230 million for all health facilities worldwide to help relieve citizen's fear amidst Wuhan virus. Government is "ALSO CONSIDERING" to inject an economic stimulus package to mitigate the effect from the virus outbreak. (While China..)
  • No death in Malaysia due to Wuhan virus, and confirmed cases remained eight.
  • LCTITAN plant utilization is higher at 86% 4Q19 compared to 81% at 4Q18. LCtitan mainly sells LLDPE and polypropylene and it is expected to oversupply at least for the next three years. With Petronas's Pengerang commissioning, it may compress the selling prices in Malaysia. Besides, ban of single-use plastics in China starting this year will further lower selling price of polypropylene.
  • Bursa Malaysia's profit were negatively impacted by global uncertainties and Wuhan virus. Although revenue improved slightly (1.3%), its operating expenses grew 14% amounting to higher IT expenses.
Globally
  • China's $22billion (RM90.2 billion) injection into stock market will not be sufficient to stop its counter from plunging, but it may ease the appetite of global investors as the move should give assurance to global investors for China as one of the leading economy position. It might look like trying to counter a tsunami with a shovel though, Swissquote Bank analyst said. China also supplied 1.2 trillion yuan (US$174 billion) to its money market to mitigate impact of the selling pressure for yuan. 
  • India's palm oil import duty remain unchanged.
  • OPEC countries need to cut its output to keep oil price stable as China's oil demand fall due to the virus outbreak (Poor Saudi Aramco investor).

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