The Malaysian Insider

NEW YORK , Dec 4 - Wall Street headed toward a lower open today as investors began sifting through retail sales reports that were expected to point to another pullback in consumer spending.

The first November sales reports issued by retailers were mixed, but Costco Wholesale Corp., usually a strong performer, said it had a drop in same-store sales twice as large as analysts forecast.

Overall, sales are expected to be grim, especially after initial reports indicated that Thanksgiving weekend results weren't strong enough to save the month for retailers.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 - Low-cost carrier, AirAsia Bhd, will continue to invest in advertising to strengthen its brand in the global market.

Its group chief executive officer, Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, said AirAsia would improve its services and continue to be innovative in order to become a premium low-cost carrier.

"We are not going to cut spending on advertising. In fact, we will increase it. My next goal is to make AirAsia as good as a premium carrier," he told a media briefing at the two-day Global Brand Forum Malaysia here today. Fernandes said the airline would not change its model but would supplement it where possible.

LONDON, Dec 4 - European stock markets rose today, despite a mixed performance in Asia, as investors cheered Sweden's Riksbank massive rate cut and predicted aggressive moves later from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.

The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 85.26 points, or 2.0 per cent, at 4,255.22, while Germany's DAX surged 159.30 points, or 3.5 per cent, to 4,726.54. The CAC-40 in France was 80.55, or 2.5 per cent, higher at 3,247.20.

Sentiment across Europe was boosted by the news that the Riksbank cut rates by 1.75 per centage points to 2.00 per cent, much more than the 1 per centage point decrease expected in the markets.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 - Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended lower today on fears of a deeper global economic recession, dealers said.

They said, however, some mild bargain hunting among key heavyweights helped narrow overall losses.

An analyst said weaknesses in Asian markets had also affected investor sentiment.

SINGAPORE, Dec 4 - Oil prices sank to fresh 3-year lows today in Asia as more bleak news from the world's largest economy signalled that crude could tumble below US$40 (RM144.00) by the end of the year.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery was down US$1.19 cents to US$45.60 a barrel - the lowest since closing at US$45.42 on Feb. 10, 2005 - in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore. The contract fell 17 cents overnight to settle at US$46.79.

"You could see prices testing US$40 by the end of the year because the economic data is really ugly at the moment," said Christoffer Moltke-Leth, head of sales trading at Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore. "Demand destruction is still very much the concern."