BEIJING, May 25 — China will strive to achieve reasonable economic growth in the second quarter, state media quoted Premier Li Keqiang as saying today.

China will also strive to bring down its jobless rate as soon as possible, Li was quoted as saying at a meeting.

China will unveil detailed implementation guidelines for a package of policies to stabilise growth by the end of May, Li added. — Reuters

BEIJING, May 25 — China will strive to achieve reasonable economic growth in the second quarter, state media quoted Premier Li Keqiang as saying today.

China will also strive to bring down its jobless rate as soon as possible, Li was quoted as saying at a meeting.

China will unveil detailed implementation guidelines for a package of policies to stabilise growth by the end of May, Li added. — Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — SP Setia Bhd’s shares on Bursa Malaysia went down in the early trading session today after it posted a weaker-than-expected revenue for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 (Q1 2022) due to supply chain disruptions which also affected margins.

At 11.14am, the counter slipped 4.5 sen to 97.5 sen with 1.34 million shares changing hands.

The group posted a lower net profit of RM67.50 million in Q1 2022 compared with RM75.23 million in Q1 2021, while revenue declined to RM867.10 million from RM1.05 billion previously, mainly due to lower revenue contribution from both Malaysia and Singapore.

In a research note today, Kenanga Research said SP Setia’s Q1 sales of RM670 million were within its RM3.3 billion target for 2022.

“We expect the second half of 2022 would see lumpy earnings for SP Setia from the completion of Australian projects (Sapphire and Uno) and land sale gains,” it said. — Bernama

COLOMBO, May 24 — Sri Lanka hiked petrol prices by 20 per cent-24 per cent today and also increased diesel prices by 35 per cent-38 per cent, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said.In a message on Twitter, Wijesekera said government-set transport and other service charges will also increase correspondingly. “Work from home will be encouraged to minimize the use of fuel and to manage the energy crisis,” he added. — Reuters