259 Trillion vs 5 Trillion


Recently, one of my friend published a very interesting 3-books-series called “259 Trillion vs 5 Trillion”. I invited him to post an article “What will Happen if Gold is Used as Money?” last December.

The books aim to describe the workings of our economy, banking system and paper money. It contains a lot of illustrations, charts and detail explanations. He is not an economist by education (in fact, he is an engineer!). As such, he tried to explain the details in a very easy manner so that it can be easily understood by anyone.

By knowing him for a few years, I can say that he has depth knowledge in the subject he presented in his book series. The titles of the book series are,

  1. The Conundrum of Assets And Money (published in November 2011)
  2. Paper Money and the Banking System in Action (published in December 2011)
  3. (Will be published in February 2012)

Below are the books summary

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OSK Construction Sector Stock Picks, Jan 2012


OSK maintained NEUTRAL on the construction sector despite expectations of stronger contracts in 2012. The elevated portion of the MRT SBK line would already make up for all domestic jobs awarded
last year.

Given that the construction sector has a relatively high beta, OSK advised to remain cautious for now. In the last three major market down cycles in 1997-98, 2000-01 and 2008-09, the KLCON Index underperformed the KLCI by 11-15%. OSK’s top large cap pick is Gamuda (BUY, FV: RM3.94) while for the small caps is KimLun (BUY, FV: RM2.15).

Below are the target price, market capitalization and rating for selected stocks in construction sector.

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OSK 2012 Outlook & Top Buys for Big/Mid/Small Caps Stocks

OSK has a Neutral outlook on the Malaysian market going into 2012 as the combination of uncertain growth outlook in the US and Asia coupled with a possible recession in Europe cloud the prospects for strong earnings growth locally.

OSK advises investors to stay cautious into mid 2012 and focus on Defensive sectors such as Consumer, Telco, Healthcare and Media with KLCI fair value of 1466 pts.

Investors are advised to Trade on Cyclical sectors such as Banks, Oil & Gas and Construction as the market dips or rallies strongly. The trading strategy to adopt is, buy when the KLCI falls towards the 1300 pts and sells when the KLCI rises towards the 1500 pts.

The tables below are OSK’s top Big/Mid/Small Caps Stocks with the target price & rating for 2012.

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EPF Employers’ Contribution Rate Increase to 13%

EPF

As highlighted during 2012 budgets, employers’ statutory contribution rate for Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will be increased from 12% to 13%. However, the increase is only applicable to the workers who earning less than RM5,000 a month. The employees’ contribution rate remains at 11%.

For employees of 55 years old and above (up to 75 years old), the new employer’s share contribution rate is 6.5% from 6.0% previously. The employees continue to contribute at 5.5 per cent.

Kindly refer to “Employees & Employers EPF Contribution Rate since 1952” for historical employees & employers rate.

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ASN Unitholders Get 6.05 sen Dividend for 2011

ASN

Amanah Saham Nasional will receive a of 6.05 sen per unit for Sekim Amanah Nasional (ASN) for the financial year ending 31st December 2011. The figure is 0.05 sen higher when compared with 6 sen per declared last year.

Kindly refer to “Historical Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN) Dividend Rate” page, for previous year dividend.

The dividend will involve a payment of RM92.8 million and will benefit 1.2 million unit holders who currently hold a total of 1.5 billion ASN units.

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