KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices of Hektar Real Estate Investment Trust, the retail-focused REIT in Malaysia, has been upgraded to RM1.44 from RM1.37 by OSK Research.

This is due to the general re-rating of REITs and the pick-up in the inflow of foreign funds into the country.

DUBAI: Movenpick Hotels & Resorts has signed a management agreement to operate the Movenpick Hotel & Convention Centre KLIA in Malaysia, which is scheduled to open in early 2014.

The property is located near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and F1 Sepang International Circuit outside Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur.

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Tuesday, Jan 11 announced 19 more Entry Point Projects (EPPs) under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

He said the projects would generate almost RM67 billion in investments, RM36 billion in gross national income and create 35,000 new jobs.

KOTA BHARU: Hotel occupancy in Kelantan increased 10.7% from January to September last year, state director of Tourism Malaysia Zurina Abdul Samad said on Tuesday, Jan 11.

She said that 638,000 people stayed in hotels in the state in those nine months, compared with 576,000 in the corresponding period of 2009.

HONG KONG: The home of Hong Kong's richest man is again the subject of controversy, after the government leased a vacant lot next to Li Ka-shing's house for use as his private garden.

The building at 79 Deep Water Bay, under reconstruction, will get a garden of similar size to the house's site — 11,800 sq ft — a map from the Lands Department reveals.

DUBAI: Dubai builder Arabtec said its board will call a shareholders meeting to seek approval for a capital raise through a rights issue and sale of five-year convertible debt.

SHANGHAI: Shanghai, the most populous city in China, will likely impose a property tax in the first quarter of this year, after getting a go-ahead from the central government, the China Daily said on Tuesday, Jan 11.

PETALING JAYA: The ending of the proposed merger between IJM Land Bhd and Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) has come as a disappointment for the former's shareholders.

KUALA LUMPUR: A new mixed development, Eve Suite, is coming up in Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya.

The RM350 million development consists of 570 SoHo or studio suites, and 143 units of serviced apartments in its first phase, while the second phase will consist of 30 units of two-storey strata shops.

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI: Hong Kong and China stocks retreated on Monday, Jan 10 as property and banking issues fell on a report that the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing may impose a property tax in the current quarter.