ASEAN Market Preview, Genting Hong Kong, Trai Thien Singapore, Garuda, Sarawak Energy

Doubts grew over Spain’s willingness to ask for an aid package, raising new concerns about Europe’s debt crisis and the euro, while bellwether FedEx cut its profit forecast, darkening the corporate earnings outlook.

In addition, the Swiss government cut its growth forecast for this year and next.

Equities are coming off strong gains last week, when the Federal Reserve promised to keep pumping money into the U.S. economy and the euro zone’s bailout fund got crucial backing from a German court. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed to multi-year highs while European shares reached a 14-month peak.

Economist Shayne Heffernan says best buys are Genting Hong Kong, Trai Thien Singapore, Garuda, Sarawak Energy

Garuda Indonesia

National airline Garuda Indonesia has stepped up its efforts to promote itself in China, keen to tap into the growing tourism market in the world’s most populous nation.

Garuda president director Emirsyah Satar said the airline plans to replace its Boeing 737s with Airbus planes for its routes to China in order to add more passenger capacity. Garuda flies from Jakarta to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

“With bigger planes, there will be more Chinese tourists that can be flown to Indonesia,” Emirsyah said.

According to the World Tourism Organization, around 70 million Chinese tourists spent $70 billion abroad last year.

According to Indonesian government data, 775,000 tourists from China visited the archipelago last year, up from 200,000 in 2010.

Imron Cotan, Indonesia’s ambassador for China, told Antara news agency that next year the number of visitors could top 1 million.

He said strong economic growth in China would fuel demand for overseas trips.

Emirsyah said that Garuda was evaluating the passenger occupancy rate of its flights to China, which currently stands at 83 percent.

The airline is conducting a “Garuda Travel Fair” in the three Chinese cities from which it flies.

On Sunday, Emirsyah and Imron inaugurated a Garuda billboard, measuring 2 meters by 4 meters, outside the Indonesian embassy in Beijing.

“Of the many Indonesian embassies overseas, only the Beijing embassy puts up a Garuda billboard, as the national carrier,” Imron said.

The billboard has a LED screen featuring five videos presenting information on Indonesia’s tourist attractions, including Borobudur temple in Central Java and Lake Toba in North Sumatra. Other videos preview Garuda’s domestic services and international routes.

Garuda, which operates 92 aircraft, in April inked a $2.5 billion agreement to purchase 11 A330-300 planes from European manufacturer Airbus during the visit of British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The airline carried 10.02 million passengers in the first seven months of the year compared with 8.64 million in the same period a year earlier, it said.

Shares in Garuda fell 3 percent to Rp 600 in Monday trading in Jakarta. The shares are up 26 percent since the start of the year.

Sourced: livetradingnews