| Tax rules that leave a queasy feeling
Yours truly attended a KPMG presentation on the new investment tax rules last week. The lunch before the presentation wasn't the source of the indigestion rather the discussion on the tax rules and their practical implication was the cause of the curdling just above the belt line. The new rules the change to the fair dividend rate (FDR) for overseas investments and the new portfolio investment entity (PIE) regime have been put in place with the best of intentions. But then, the road to hell is also paved with good intentions. The logic appears to be that by getting rid of the "grey" list an overseas investor would no longer restrict investments to the seven grey list countries, thus there should be no difference between investing in British stocks or those trading on the Jamaican or Iraqi stock exchanges from a tax perspective.
Ten Stock Picks From Barbara Marcin of Gamco Investors
Forbes Investor Advisory Institute hosted a Financial Roundtable on March 22, 2007 with a number of leading investment professionals. From the Roundtable, hosted by Wally Forbes, here's an excerpt from Barbara Marcin (pictured), a portfolio manager at Gamco Investors, Inc. where she manages the Gabelli Blue Chip Value Fund and the Gabelli Dividend and Income Fund: ............... I think there's a lot of value in general in the market. Just before coming here I looked at the largest 20 stocks in the S&P 500 just as another check. They're selling at a multiple of 13.5 on this year's earnings. And they're wonderful companies with good balance sheets and the cash flow and earnings to seed growth faster in growing areas overseas. So, I guess I could name a lot of stocks but I'll pick just a few.
Broking boost for investment banks
PETALING JAYA: Investor interest appears to be growing in stocks of investment banks bolstered by stockbroking operations, as reflected by the steady rise in their prices and high market volume in the past three months. SJ Securities head of research Cheah King Yoong said that as the daily volume on Bursa Malaysia during the period had averaged between RM1.5bil and RM2bil in value, the growing interest in these firms was a good proxy for improving investor sentiment. Stockbroking companies that have merged and transformed into investment banks are expected to benefit from their restructuring schemes, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and other corporate activities going forward, he said, adding that increased corporate activities would support the market's momentum. Yesterday, the Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd (MIDF) shares, which had been on an uptrend since last week, hit an intra-day high of RM1.60 also a 52-week peak before closing 15 sen higher at RM1.57 on heavy volume of 23.8 million shares. AmInvestment Group Bhd gained six sen to RM2.01 while OSK Holdings Bhd put on three sen to RM2.58 after hitting an intra-day high of RM2.60.
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