MarketWrap: Wall Street receded from record highs on Monday as a drop in healthcare stocks offset gains caused by higher oil prices and a strong jobs report. - Reuters

The S&P 500 opened at a record high before turning modestly negative and closing down 0.09% at 2,180.89. The DJIA edged down 0.08% to end at 18,529.29, while the Nasdaq dropped 0.15% to 5,213.14.

Forex summary

*The ringgit gained 0.11% to 4.0320 per US$

*It was 0.14% higher at 4.4696 per euro

*Up 0.43% to 5.2438 to the pound sterling

*Up 0.14% to 2.9920 per Singapore dollar

*0.10% lower to 3.0840 per Aussie

*Up 0.03% to 3.9389 per 100 yen

Energy

Crude prices inched down on Tuesday in Asia, paring gains of nearly 3% from a day earlier, as worries over a global oil glut tempered speculation that Opec would try to restrain output. London Brent crude for October delivery was down 19 cents at US$45.20 a barrel by 0033 GMT, after settling up US$1.12, or 2.5%, on Monday. - Reuters

Top foreign stories

Wal-Mart buying Jet.com to lift online sales, battle Amazon: Wal-Mart Stores Inc, vying to better challenge Amazon.com Inc , will pay about US$3 billion for internet retailer Jet.com and its innovative pricing software in the largest-ever deal for an e-commerce startup. - Reuters

Steinhoff springs a surprise with US$3.8b Mattress Firm deal: Steinhoff's US$3.8 billion purchase of debt-laden Mattress Firm, the largest US specialty bedding vendor, will help cut its exposure to a weak home market and gain a big presence in the world's biggest retail market. The deal, announced on Sunday, will create the world's largest mattress distributor and takes the US$23 billion South African retailer across the Atlantic for the first time. - Reuters

LendingClub posts bigger-than-expected loss; CFO resigns: LendingClub Corp, which matches borrowers and lenders online, on Monday posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss as growth slowed, and said its chief financial officer had resigned. - Reuters

US to auction US$1.6m of bitcoin from various cases: The U.S. government said on Monday it plans to auction over 2,700 bitcoins that were forfeited during several cases, several of which stemmed from investigations of the online black market known as Silk Road. The bitcoin are worth about US$1.6 million, according to the Bitstamp exchange. - Reuters

Top local stories

Pos Malaysia counts on Pos Laju to drive growth: Pos Malaysia Bhd is counting on its courier services to be the main driver of growth within the next two years. Group chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh says Pos Laju would be its main revenue generator by its next financial year ending March 31, 2018, driven by rising demand for e-commerce. - StarBiz

MBSB net profit falls despite higher revenue: Nonbank lender Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) posted a net profit of RM63mil in the second quarter, down 26%, due to a higher allowance for impairment losses on loans, advances and financing. Its revenue increased 6.1% to RM812.51mil, while earnings per share was at 2.21 sen compared with 3.41 sen a year earlier. - StarBiz

DRB-Hicom denies Proton stake disposal: Conglomerate DRB-Hicom Bhd denied that it is considering a full disposal of Proton Holdings Bhd to outside investors. The group said it remained committed to holding a substantial and strategic stake in Proton and remained confident of the carmaker’s turnaround. - StarBiz

IOI back on track: IOI Corp Bhd is back on track to produce certified sustainable palm oil after the lifting of its four-month certification suspension by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) on Monday. However, analysts said the plantation giant is also bracing itself for the impact of the suspension on its long clientele base and its downstream business operation. - StarBiz

Fajarbaru wins East Coast highway contract: Construction firm Fajarbaru Builder Group Bhd has secured a contract worth RM20.96mil for the proposed construction of the Kuantan Port City link road in Pahang. - StarBiz

A boost for MMC’s port listing plan?: Analysts believe MMC Corp Bhd’s move to acquire a 49% stake in Penang Port for RM200mil from Seaport Terminal (Johor) Sdn Bhd could pave the way for the utilities and infrastructure company to boost plans for a listing of the port business. - StarBiz

edotco deploys first carbon fibre tower in Asia: Axiata Group Bhd’s telecommunication infrastructure service arm edotco announced the deployment of a carbon fibre structure in the company’s pursuit of establishing innovative telecoms infrastructure in the region. The company said the ground-based carbon fibre tower installed in Taman Tasik Prima, Puchong is the first of such towers in Asia. - StarBiz

Mah Sing’s Meridin East 2-storey link houses get 85% take-up rate: Property developer Mah Sing Group Bhd saw an 85% take-up rate for two-storey link houses in the company’s largest township development, the 1,313-acre Meridin East in Pasir Gudang, Johor. - StarBiz

Ambank in tie-up to help SMEs: Ambank Group has allocated another RM300mil in Islamic financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in collaboration with Credit Guarantee Corp (CGC). With a total of RM600mil already allocated, AmBank group chief executive officer Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir said it hoped to raise this figure to RM1bil over the next six months through the partnership with CGC. - StarBiz

HeiTech Padu unit wins TNB contract: Technology company HeiTech Padu Bhd subsidiary Duta Technic Sdn Bhd has been awarded a RM37.29mil contract by Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) to carry out engineering design works for the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Semantan project. - StarBiz

Asian Pac proposes 1-for-10 loan stock rights issue: Asian Pac Holdings Bhd has proposed a rights issue of five-year 3% irredeemable convertible unsecured loan stocks on the basis of one Icul for every 10 shares held. - Edge FD

Malaysia Airlines sees 3rd senior exec depart: Malaysia Airlines Bhd has appointed Arved von zur Muehlen as its chief commercial officer effective Sept 5, replacing Paul Simmons who will be leaving in mid-September after nine months on the job. - Edge FD

Astral Asia calls off Sarawak oil palm plantation buy: Astral Asia Bhd has called off its plan to acquire 35,000 acres of oil palm land in Sarawak. It said its subsidiary Astral Plantation Sdn Bhd and vendor Sima Properties Holdings Sdn Bhd were unable to reach an agreement on the deal. - Edge FD

Aeon partners Qualitas for wider healthcare offerings: In a move to make its business more resilient, supermarket chain operator Aeon Co (M) Bhd has partnered with Qualitas Medical Group Sdn Bhd to offer the latter’s clinical healthcare services at Aeon Wellness outlets. - Edge FD

EPF to allocate up to RM30b annually for Simpanan Shariah: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is looking at an additional allocation of between RM20 billion and RM30 billion an- dually for its Simpanan Shariah from 2018. - Brenda

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