Malaysian News Highlights for Wednesday

• Malaysia share prices opened higher on Wednesday with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index up 2.72 points to 1823.97.

• Malaysia is on track to reach high income status in five years due to skillful economic management amidst an uneven global recovery, says the International Monetary Fund. Robust domestic demand supported by sound macro-financial policies is driving strong, non-inflationary growth in the face of uncertain external conditions and declining commodity prices.

• Shares of Mega First Corporation Bhd (MFCB) is bound to reach its highest since 1995 after it signed a shareholders agreement with Laos' Electricite du Laos (EDL) and two other parties to develop Don Sahong hydropower project.

• Foreign funds took profit on Malaysian equities on Tuesday with net selling at RM162.30mil after two days of net buying. foreign funds bought RM545.8mil of Malaysian equities but sold RM708.1mil.

• AllianceDBS Research said the fourth quarter earnings for 2014 were uninspiring despite more corporates meeting its earnings expectations.

• Malaysia's sovereign rating is unlikely to see a downgrade, despite a possible widening in the deficit due to lower oil revenues and high household debt because of its strong fundamentals.

• The Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) has imposed a total financial penalty of RM247,730 on 15 infringing enterprises in relation to a price fixing agreement between 24 enterprises who are members of the Sibu Confectionery and Bakery Association (SCBA).

• The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Thailand and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a Streamlined Review Framework for the Asean Common Prospectus.

• Ni Hsin Resources Bhd will proceed with its investment in loss making Helios Photovoltaic Sdn Bhd, confident that it will become a major revenue and profit contributor to the group in the future.

• CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Mitsubishi Corp yesterday launched the Asean Industrial Growth Fund (AIGF LP) to channel Japanese corporates looking to invest in mid-tier Asean companies.