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600 houses in Johor Baru to be sold at near cost price KUALA LUMPUR: The Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (DPMM) has offered to build homes and sell them at near cost - at an affordable RM200,000 and below. The first project would be 600 homes, to be built in two phases in Taman Uda Utama, Johor Bahru, on four hectares of land offered by the Johor state government for a 99-year leasehold period. DPMM president Datuk Syed Ali Alattas said the medium-cost homes at Taman Uda Utama would cost RM180,000 each and were meant for households earning RM3,500 to RM7,000.

How to spend your money and save it too IT is important to be committed in order to reap the power of financial savings. Set a realistic inflation benchmark and spend on what you need rather than what you want, writes MAY ML YAP. WHEN I started working, my mother taught me to save a portion of my income monthly into an FD account. Every year, I looked forward to the interests and enjoyed them being compound the following year. After some time to my amazement, I had saved enough to buy a brand new car − thanks to the beauty of compounding interest and also to my mother for teaching me well.

KLCI hits historic high of 1,700; reverses earlier losses KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI snapped from the early decline on Thursday to surge to an all-time intra-day high of 1,700.55, on fund buying of Sime Darby and Petronas stocks. Trading was volatile in the early trade, as the KLCI slumped earlier to a low of 1,678.77 before buying picked up pace. Despite the volatile market on Wednesday after the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the dissolution of Parliament to make way for the general elections, foreign funds bought net RM392.50mil worth of Malaysian equities. However, local institutions sold RM195.6mil and local investors were net sellers at RM196.9mil. At 9.14am, the KLCI was off the earlier high, adding 10.09 points to 1,695.49. Turnover was 49.13 million shares valued at RM63.33mil.

Special-purpose acquisition company A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is a collective investment scheme that allows public stock market investors to invest in private equity type transactions, particularly leveraged buyouts. SPACs are shell or blank-check companies that have no operations but go public with the intention of merging with or acquiring a company with the proceeds of the SPAC's initial public offering (IPO). Characteristics[edit] Offerings[edit] Groups: Dividend should be higher PETALING JAYA: While welcoming the 6.15% dividend announced by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), several groups say an even higher amount should be declared. Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said the return on investment stated in the EPF report was very impressive. “However, based on those figures, we feel that the dividend paid to contributors should also be higher,” he said. As a huge profit was made on investments using contributors' money, he said the dividend given should reflect this. Fomca CEO Datuk Paul Selvaraj said EPF contributors had benefited from the sound investments made. “As long as the EPF makes good investments with good returns, the contributors will continue to benefit,” he said.

Lower corporate bond issuance seen PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's gross corporate bond issuance is expected to decline to between RM70bil and RM90bil this year after a bumper year with a record RM124.6bil bonds issued last year, Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd (MARC) said. In its latest report, MARC said the issuance this year was mainly due to the implementation of projects under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) as the major catalyst. “A large amount of the financing for the ETP is likely to come in via unrated government-guaranteed (GG) notes. “This means bond yields coming in at circa 3.8% to 4.3%, assuming the benchmark 10-year Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) yields max out at 3.8%. The rest of the issuances are likely to be driven by AAA-rated bonds,” it added. It estimates almost RM32.5bil corporate bonds to mature this year.

Malaysia is doing quite well relative to the rest AT the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, I had the opportunity to watch at close hand a myriad of discussions over the problems of the world economy and reflect on them, especially how they compare with each other. One thing that emerged was that world leaders were good at defining and analysing the problems, arguing and discoursing endlessly about cause and effect. But there was a dearth of definitive solutions and a constructive way forward. When our Prime Minister shared that the Malaysian economy grew by more than 5% last year, many country representatives were impressed as many countries were registering low growth rates while others were still going through a recession.

How to retire with RM1mil in 3 easy steps “First, get a million ringgit...” Okay, it's not that simple! You have to understand how to operate the three steps of wealth creation, writes LEE MUN WAI. THE three steps (T.A.R.) are: how much TIME you have, the AMOUNT you save, and your RETURNS on your investment assets. The slightest change in one or two of these steps can affect your path to RM1mil. The first step is how much TIME you have.

Public Bank profit up 8.66% in Q4 2012 PETALING JAYA: Public Bank Bhd's net profit for the final quarter of last year rose 8.66% to RM992.47mil from RM913.39mil in the preceding year, pushing its pre-tax profit for 2012 above the RM5bil mark for the first time. In the three months to December, Malaysia's third-largest lender by assets reported revenue of RM3.63bil, up 9.28% from RM3.32bil in the same period last year, while its earnings per share increased to 28.34 sen compared with 26.08 sen. It declared a second interim dividend of 30 sen for the quarter, taking its dividends for the year to 50 sen for a payout of 45.3% of its net profit and a gross 3% yield based on its last traded price of RM15.72.

Negotiate only when necessary THERE are a few words and phrases that are synonymous with Malaysia and Malaysians, and “no budget!” is definitely one of them. If you’re a supplier, vendor or service provider in this country, you would have come across the dreaded but expected “no budget!” Another plot of land in Medini sold to S'porean PETALING JAYA: A plot of land, measuring 5.9 ha, in Medini Iskandar which forms part of Iskandar Malaysia was sold to a Singaporean developer, who plans to turn it into a mixed development hub in five years. The gross development value (GDV) is estimated at RM2.5bil. The deal comes hot on the heels of local property developer B&G Capital Resources Bhd snapping up a 3.4-ha site near this plot in Medini, just over a month ago. However, the deal to really watch out for is likely to be sealed in a few weeks' time involving the sale of a man-made island in the eastern side of Johor Baru to an influential Singaporean party. The man-made island was created by Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (IWH) upon undertaking reclamation works.

Economic reality finally cracks market fervor LONDON: As evidence mounts that a mid-year slowdown is taking place in the world economy, the next few days will offer a clearer glimpse of how that will impinge on policy making and buoyant financial markets. Global stocks stumbled last Thursday in one of the few times the grey economic reality cut through this year's reverie in financial markets. And that could mark the start of a trend, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke last week hinted the U.S. central bank could soon scale back its monthly bond purchases that have flooded stock markets with new cash. Some poor business surveys from China have also had an impact, suggesting the world's No.2 economy is struggling for momentum. While there is little in the way of major economic data this week that will send chills through stock markets as happened on Thursday, there is a renewed sense of caution in the market.

CIMB's Nazir, AirAsia's Fernandes and SP Setia's Liew are best CEOs DiGi.Com emerges as the top “best managed company”. PETALING JAYA: Indonesian, Malaysian and Thai companies have been voted as some of the best managed companies in Asia in an annual poll of analysts and investors conducted by FinanceAsia , a monthly magazine owned by Haymarket Media Ltd , a London-based publisher. Among Malaysian companies, DiGi.Com Bhd emerged as the top “best managed company” with CIMB Group Holdings Bhd in second place while Axiata Group Bhd and unlisted state-owned Petroliam Nasional Bhd tied for third place.