KUMPULAN EUROPLUS BHD (3565.KL)

Major Break up. Target RM1.50

TA ENTERPRISE BHD (4898.KL)

TA Enterprise Berhad is an investment holding public limited company incorporated in Malaysia on 13 March 1990 and has an issued and paid-up share capital of RM1,711,909,630.00. TA Enterprise Berhad is the ultimate holding company of the entire TA Group, with its shares listed on the Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad since 23 November 1990. TA Enterprise Berhad's scope of business interests include stockbroking; share financing; ESOS financing; fund management; derivatives trading and unit trust fund management.

Target (RM1.00)

Genting Singapore 3Q net slightly down from 2Q

Genting Singapore posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $347.6 million in the third quarter, down from $503.5 million in the three months ended June.

The Singapore casino recorded revenues of $731.8 million in the third quarter, a decrease from $860.8 million in the second quarter.

Insas Berhad - Bursa

Insas Berhad is the investment holding and management company for the Insas Group.

The company was incorporated in the Federation of Malaya under the Companies Ordinance 1940-1946 as a private limited company under the original name of Paper Products (Malaya) Ltd on 27 January 1961. The Company was converted into a public company on 24 June 1968 and assumed the name of Paper Products (Malaya) Berhad. On 22 October 1987, the Company assumed its present name, Insas Berhad. The shares of the company was listed on the Main Board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (now known as Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad) on 23 June 1969.

The group's principal businesses consist of stock broking, investment holding and trading, project and credit financing, property investment and development, IT consultancy, manufacturing and trading, car rental, wine merchant, retailer of high fashion products and operators of F&B outlets.

The authorized share capital of Insas Berhad is RM1,500 million of RM1.00 each and the issued and paid-up share capital is RM693 million. The shareholders' funds of the Group as at 30 June 2009 is RM778 million.

http://www.insas.net

What the New Congress Means for Markets

THE STOCK MARKET. Unclear. Watch out for anyone who tells you "divided government is good for the stock market." The historical basis for this -- such as data since 1949 via the Stock Trader's Almanac -- is meager. You can't extrapolate universal rules from such a small amount of data. The results are too heavily skewed by the Reagan (1981-86) and Clinton (1995-2001) booms under divided governments. "The mantra that gridlock is good for the markets is not borne out by the evidence," says Bob Johnson, senior managing director at the CFA Institute, a trade organization for professional investors. A case in point: The stock market has gained 40% since the Democrats took full control in Jan. 2009.

LARGE CAPS. Positive. Yes, the new Congress may be pro-business. But that should favor those who can pay to play. That means big companies with cash, clout and contacts. Think: Big oil, pharma, and the Wall Street banks. Large companies boomed following the "Republican Revolution" of 1994. Large companies also have other advantages for investors today. After years of underperforming small caps, many of them look reasonably priced. Those with big dividend yields should benefit from extensions of the Bush tax cuts, which favor dividend income. And large companies are most able to benefit from overseas growth and a weaker dollar.

SMALL CAPS. Unclear. They should benefit if the Republicans follow through on plans for lighter regulations and a small business tax cut. But the biggest issue for them remains the domestic economy, still burdened by high unemployment and heavy debts. According to the Pledge, the new Congress plans to axe any remaining stimulus and cut back on discretionary spending. Will this austerity help the domestic economy in the short-term? Hardly. Look at Ireland, where the economy is in freefall. A further headwind for small cap investors: The stocks have already outperformed for a decade. The cycle may be due to turn.

DOLLAR. Negative. That, at least, is the take if the Republicans follow through on the budget ideas in the Pledge to America. If so, we can probably expect skyrocketing federal deficits and maybe even a dollar crisis. The Pledge calls for trillions of dollars in tax cuts, yet offers few major plans for savings. As the free-market Cato Institute dryly noted, the 48-page document "contains more pictures of Republican members of Congress than it does evidence that the GOP is seriously prepared to cut spending." It even balked at abolishing the federal "wild horse and burro program," the Institute added. No wonder the dollar has already come down a long way in recent months, in anticipation of this and Ben Bernanke's next wave of money printing.

BONDS. Negative. The new political climate hardly looks helpful for bond investors. If taxes are cut and deficits soar, the federal government will have to issue many more bonds. That alone should depress prices. At some point it may start to undermine confidence in federal finances. And then there's the risk that political gridlock may degenerate into something worse -- political paralysis. That would hardly help confidence either. The outlook might be OK if bonds were already cheap. Instead they're expensive.

Today Uncle Sam can borrow for 30 years at less than 4% -- very cheap rates by historic standards. Lenders are taking a big gamble that inflation will stay low, and our public finances will remain strong.

GOLD. Positive. Eric Singer, manager of the tiny, offbeat Congressional Effect mutual fund, has followed the gold price since it first floated freely nearly 40 years ago. His findings: Over that time, gold typically beat stocks by a wide margin during periods of one-party rule, while stocks outperformed during periods of gridlock. What does this mean? Maybe something, maybe not. After all, it's only a few decades' worth of data. And the situation may be very different this time around. Today Mr. Singer asks the best question of all: "Will this be 'your father's gridlock'?" No one knows. The gold boom is 10 years old, which ought to make investors wary. But if the Republicans make good on the budget plans in their Pledge to America and the dollar tanks, it's hard to see how gold does badly.

Does QE2 doom the USD?

On its own, probably not. But it certainly doesn't help the beleaguered greenback, which is primarily suffering from the protracted weakness in the US economy contrasted with relative strength in other major economies, especially Asian regional and other emerging markets. The price action in recent weeks highlights our view that it's relative growth prospects that are driving central bank policy expectations, which in turn are driving key currencies. As one indication, the USD index at 76.55 is only slightly lower than the 76.70 level at the time of the Fed announcement, with EUR/USD similarly nearly unchanged. Yes, the USD weakened between the Fed's decision and Friday's NFP report, but that's the point: the USD recovered after Oct. jobs surprised to the upside, suggesting improving US growth prospects. GBP/USD is only about 100 points higher than pre-Fed levels, but this stems more from the surprising resilience in 3Q UK GDP reported 2 weeks ago, which led the BOE to refrain from its own QE2 this past week. AUD and NZD have similarly outperformed both the USD and other major currencies after surprising strength in NZ 3Q employment and an unexpected rate hike from the RBA, again due to strong growth prospects and limited spare capacity.

So we hesitate to conclude that QE2 in and of itself will lead to further USD weakness. More important will be the evolution of incoming US data, and to the extent it improves, the USD has the potential to stabilize. The better than expected Oct. jobs report, while far from cause for exuberance, does hold out the prospect for further improvement in consumer confidence, and with it US consumption. Now that QE2 is out of the way, other major currencies are at risk of coming under the microscope, especially if incoming data begins to disappoint. In particular, we think EUR and GBP strength against the USD is especially vulnerable to data setbacks and the strong likelihood of slower growth in the months ahead. EUR is also vulnerable to renewed peripheral stressors (see below). On the technical side, we would note a daily bearish engulfing candlestick in EUR/USD on Friday, potentially suggesting a reversal lower, and we would highlight the daily Ichimoku Tenkan and Kijun lines at 1.4008 and 1.3951 as a critical support zone that must hold for the EUR/USD to strengthen further. The USD index also has long-term trendline support at 75.60/65 as another indicator of whether USD weakness is extending. GBP/USD has long-term trendline resistance at 1.6300/10, above which we would expect gains to extend. AUD, NZD, and CAD (to a lesser extent) seem most likely to continue to outperform (see below), not just against the USD, but also EUR, GBP and JPY. Should the USD recover more quickly than expected, rapid gains in Gold, Silver and crude oil are at risk of a sharp sell-off. We go into next week cautiously optimistic for a USD recovery overall.