PRESS DIGEST - Malaysia - Nov 6

Following are the main stories in Malaysian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

ALL NEWSPAPERS

- RAM Ratings Services Bhd has upgraded the ratings of 12 financial institutions and revised its long term outlook on another two banks in line with its positive outlook on the local banking sector.

THE STAR (www.thestar.com.my)

- Lityan Holdings Bhd group managing director and chief executive officer Nor Badli Mohd Alias has disposed of his entire stake in the company, a filing on Wednesday with Bursa Malaysia showed.

NEW STRAITS TIMES (www.nst.com.my)

- Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA)'s five-man disciplinary board has resigned en bloc, two days after seeing the return of the deputy president whose sacking it had recommended in August, party sources said.

- The list of pro-tem committee members submitted by Pakatan Rakyat (People Unity) to the Registrar of Societies does not reflect the three component parties in the coalition.

BUSINESS TIMES (www.btimes.com.my)

- State investment agency Khazanah Nasional Bhd plans to partner foreign firms and invest more than one billion ringgit to build six theme parks nationwide next year, said Themed Attraction & Resorts Sdn Bhd (TAR) chief executive officer Tunku Ahmad Burhanuddin.

THE EDGE FINANCIAL DAILY (www.theedgedaily.com.my)

- Rationality has returned to the pricing of domestic residential mortgages after being gradually driven to "uneconomic levels" in recent times, a top banker said.

- The Employees Provident Fund Board (EPF) is within reach to extend a mandatory general offer to Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) (MYRS.KL) with the latter's proposal to undertake a rights issue to raise 566 million ringgit.

THE SUN (www.sun2surf.com)

- In the face of a damning report by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, former transport minister Chan Kong Choy has stuck to his explanation - that the three letters of support he issued for the Port Klang Free Zone project were not "guarantee letters".

- Malaysian Electronic Payment System (MEPS) on Thursday launched the newest addition to its shared ATM network - Al-Rajhi Bank, the first foreign Islamic bank to be a member of its line-up of 14 banks, MEPS chairman Abdul Wahid Omar said.

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($1=3.400 Malaysian Ringgit)