Carbon credits are typically purchased in the voluntary carbon market by companies to neutralise or compensate for their emissions. The federal government has announced its intention to set up a voluntary carbon market that will allow Malaysian companies to buy carbon credits, creating a reference carbon price in the country. Harmonise the design of voluntary carbon and compliance marketsCompliance carbon markets are those where mandatory national, regional or international regimes trade and regulate carbon allowances. Voluntary carbon markets are those where companies and individuals trade carbon credits on a voluntary basis. Market participants would also need clarity on whether carbon credits can be traded with other carbon markets abroad.

For some time, Malaysia’s New Economic Policy (NEP) has been touted as a successful case of “affirmative action” by world standards. The term “affirmative action” originally came about during the US civil rights struggles in the middle of the 20th century. The NEP’s primarily ethnic focus for over half a century is hence unlikely to significantly lower economic inequality. Unsurprisingly then, despite over half a century of the NEP, total income inequality remains high. Affirmative action seems to imply the acceptability of otherwise unequal societies in which aggrieved groups are no longer disproportionately under-represented.

The renegotiations and defaults by mills in India, the world’s second biggest sugar exporter, could support global prices. They are threatening to default unless buyers are ready to renegotiate at higher prices,” said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trade house. Trade houses sold sugar to overseas buyers after signing purchase agreements with the mills, said a New-Delhi based dealer with a global trade house. The defaults by mills in Maharashtra are forcing trade houses to make purchases from mills in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, dealers said. Indian mills have so far signed contracts to export four million tonnes of sugar during November to February, they said.

(Nov 15): Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc took a stake of about US$5 billion in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, disclosing its holding in the world’s leading chipmaker as part of its portfolio changes in the last quarter. The Omaha-based conglomerate acquired about 60 million American depository receipts in TSMC in the three months ended September, it said in a filing. Assuming Buffett bought TSMC’s ADRs at the average price for the third quarter, the stake would have cost him US$5.1 billion. TSMC’s shares rose as much as 5.1% in Taiwan after the disclosure. The company said in October it pulled back on capital spending to about US$36 billion this year, which would still be a record high, down from at least US$40 billion planned previously.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Ranhill Utilities Bhd has bagged a US$27 million (RM124 million) contract to perform detail design engineering services for a new floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for Brazil's state-owned oil and gas (O&G) company Petrobras. P-82 is part of Petrobras' new generation of production facilities, characterised by their high production capacity and the technologies utilised to reduce cardon dioxide emissions. The unit will also be equipped with water injection capacity of 250,000 barrels per day and a storage capacity of two million barrels of oil. Ranhill said the duration of the detailed engineering phase is anticipated to be 14 months with follow-on engineering support thereafter. Ranhill's share price closed unchanged at 38 sen on Monday (Nov 14), for a market capitalisation of RM492 million.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): RHB Retail Research said JF Technology Bhd is eyeing a bullish reversal as it was poised for a breakout above the 66 sen level last Friday (Nov 11), after bouncing off the 21-day average line and hitting that spot, on higher trading volume. In a trading stocks note on Monday, the research house said that if a breakout above that level happens — forming a “higher high” bullish structure above the average line, it expects the bulls to push the stock towards 75.5 sen or Sept 13’s high, followed by Aug 15’s high of 82 sen.“Conversely, the bullish momentum may be reversed if it drops below the strong support of 61.5 sen, forming a 'lower low' bearish structure below the average line,” it said.

JAKARTA (Nov 13): Indonesia's state-owned electric vehicle (EV) company is focusing on the more than 115 million motorcycles roaming the country's roads as it presses ahead with efforts to reduce emissions. To get started, Indonesia Battery Corp (IBC) plans to produce 50,000 battery packs for two-wheelers next year, president director Toto Nugroho said in an interview on the sidelines of the BloombergNEF Summit on Saturday. IBC was formed in 2021 to realise Indonesian President Joko Widodo's ambition to have an end-to-end EV supply chain — from nickel ores to locally made electric cars. Only 21,000 motorbikes in Indonesia are electric, which means many of their riders have to contend with higher fuel costs. "We want to make sure the battery we produce here will not be dependent on imported minerals like lithium, graphite, and cobalt," Nugroho said.

Eei Hui wants Yew Sin-Ee Yi to ride on the momentum. “For me, the Bright Up Cup was a very good warm-up for Yew Sin-Ee Yi ahead of their bigger assignments. Yew Sin-Ee Yi pocketed US$14,000 (RM65,807) for their efforts while Fajar-Pramudya, who finished as runners-up, took home US$12,000 (RM56,406). Yew Sin-Ee Yi will open their campaign in Sydney against fellow independent pair Boon Xin Yuan-Wong Tien Ci. Meanwhile, Aaron and Izzuddin finished bottom of the group in the Bright Up Cup after losing to all the other three pairs.

(Nov 12): Sam Bankman-Fried’s bankrupt digital-asset exchange FTX was hit by a mysterious outflow of about US$662 million (RM3.11 billion) in tokens in the past 24 hours, the latest twist in one of the darkest periods for the crypto industry. The main wallet belonging to FTX was drained of its entire balance in FTT during the incident, according to Nansen. The US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating how closely intertwined his businesses were, and whether FTX mishandled customer funds. The claims couldn’t be immediately verified, and several calls to FTX officials outside regular US business hours went unanswered. Read also:Crypto exchange FTX files for bankruptcy as wunderkind CEO exits

Signature International Bhd is laying claim to becoming the largest kitchen and wardrobe company in Asean following its proposed acquisitions of two Singaporean companies. “In the past two years, besides acquiring into Signature, we also did a couple of other acquisitions (for Chin Hin Group). “This started during the Covid-19 pandemic when we thought of what would become our next phase of growth,” Chin Hin and Signature group managing director Chiau Haw Choon tells StarBizWeek.“We already have a presence in building materials, property and construction business. “Many people know Signature Kitchen but we would like to move forward and build Signature Home and Living products as well,” Chiau adds. Signature would like to be the first company in Asean, with our base in Malaysia and Singapore, to lead in this space now,” Chiau says.

Powered by strong economic growth, private equity (PE) investments in Southeast Asia rose to a record US$25 billion in 2021, up 143% from 2020. Each country in Southeast Asia set new investment highs last year, and five megadeals accounted for 33% of total deal value. Internet and tech investments in Southeast Asia made up the largest share of deal value and volume in 2021. Exit value in Southeast Asia rebounded to US$8 billion, with Singapore making up most of the increase. Seventy per cent of LPs say their organisations’ investment policies include an ESG approach, and 85% of those have fully or partially implemented an ESG investment policy.

PETALING JAYA: Employees in Malaysia can look forward to a median 5% increase in their salaries next year, up from 4.8% this year, according to Mercer’s annual Total Remuneration Survey 2022. The asset management firm said the salary increment would be a return to the pre-pandemic level, as seen in 2019. Mercer said Malaysia’s median salary increment is also above the Asia-Pacific average of 4.4%. “Across Asia, the overall median salary increases reflect a divergence in pay progression between emerging and developed economies, with estimates as high as 7.1% in Vietnam to 2.2% in Japan, the lowest in the region,” it added. Mercer said the retail and consumer goods industries are expected to see the biggest upturn in salary increments of 5% in 2023, up from 4.5% and 4.6%, respectively, in 2022.

KUCHING: Youths in Sarawak should get involved in the state's aspiration to achieve high-income status by 2030, says Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof. ALSO READ: Sarawak targets to create 195,000 high-paying jobs by 2030"Sarawak's goal to become a developed, high-income state is based on technology, so we need to develop the right human capital. "This is an opportunity for our young people," he said after meeting a group of youths from Tupong at Metrocity here on Friday (Nov 11). In addition, Fadillah said there were business opportunities for youths to be involved in, such as in research and development or product development to meet Sarawak's needs as outlined in its post-Covid strategy. Fadillah also said his engagement with young voters was encouraging, as many of them seemed to understand the state government's development plans.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 11): Kelington Group Bhd is investing RM45 million to set up its second carbon dioxide gas recovery plant at the existing site in Kerteh, Terengganu. The group said the existing plant is operating at more than 80% of its capacity, and so it is the right time to invest in the second plant to capture future opportunities. The growth of the industrial gas business is expected to provide Kelington with a stable recurring income, the group added in a bourse filing. Thereafter, the depreciation cost of the new plant is expected to reduce earnings until capacity utilisation is optimised. "However, the investment is expected to contribute positively to the earnings and net assets per share of Kelington Group for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2024," the group added.

Topkek UPDATE:On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis, the economy grew by a mere 1.9% this Q3 (even lower than last quarter, 2Q2022: 3.5%). This post has been edited by James1983: Nov 11 2022, 12:35 PM