KUALA LUMPUR: Banks are raising their lending rates by 30 basis points (bps) on Wednesday, May 11, following Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) move to raise key interest rates by 25bps to 3% last week.

Industry sources said all banks are raising their lending rates, led by CIMB Bank Bhd.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia has asked the government to hand over the RM36 billion Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project, the country's biggest infrastructure project, to the chamber.

The chamber said it would undertake the mega project in collaboration with other contractors' associations.

LONDON: London's West End overtook Tokyo as the most expensive location in the world in which to rent office space during 2010.

The figures are revealed by Knight Frank's Global Real Estate Markets Annual Review & Outlook 2011, which reviews current conditions in commercial property markets across the globe and surveys office rental levels in 105 international markets.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand house prices were steady in April with the stabilisation that started in Auckland spreading across the country to halt the market slide, government property valuer Quotable Value (QV) said on Tuesday, May 10.

QV's residential house price index fell 1.9% in the year to April, after a 2% decline in the year to March.

KUALA LUMPUR: The recent 25 basis points (bps) hike of the overnight policy rate (OPR) to 3% from 2.75%, effective since July last year, is mainly due to concerns about asset bubble rather than inflationary pressures, said Dr Yeah Kim Leng, chief economist of RAM Holdings Bhd.

Faber Group Bhd (May 9, RM2.05)

NEW YORK: US home values fell in the first quarter (1Q) at the fastest rate since late 2008, real estate data firm Zillow Inc said on Monday, suggesting that a bottom will not be seen until 2012 at the earliest.

Zillow said its home value index fell 3% in the first three months of the year from the previous quarter, and was down 8.2% year-over-year.

BEIJING: A month-long trial of the Shanghai-Beijing high-speed railway would start on Wednesday, May 11, a Chinese Railways Ministry spokesman said.

"The high-speed railway will test run on May 11, and it is expected to be fully operational by end of June," said the spokesman, Wang Yongping during an online session with the public on Monday.

KSL Holdings Bhd (May 9, RM1.74)

KUALA LUMPUR: Casa Andaman Sdn Bhd, the developer of Cova Square in Kota Damansara, says that 20 of the 30 units in the first phase of its Diamond Square new shop office development in Serdang, Selangor have been sold since its release early last month.