Bursa Malaysia extends losses to end marginally lower

KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 — Bursa Malaysia closed marginally lower for the third consecutive day, dragged by persistent selling across the board over rising concerns over the global market outlook, an analyst said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined by 4.66 points or 0.32 per cent to 1,424.89 from yesterday’s closing of 1,429.55.

The barometer index opened 1.77 points higher at 1,431.32, and moved in a downtrend mode to as low as 1,416.67 during the midday session.

Market breadth was negative as decliners thumped gainers 450 to 321...

Govt committed to implementing policies to strengthen international reserves, ringgit

KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 ― The government remains committed to implementing policies that can bolster the nation’s economic growth and competitiveness to attract funds that will strengthen the international reserves and the ringgit.

The Finance Ministry (MoF) said the government would also continue to carry out policies to improve the investment climate and national productivity to enhance Malaysia’s long-term appeal for foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment.

“Amid the global financial market uncertainty, a flexible ringgit exchange ra...

DPM Fadillah: UK’s decision to join CPTPP set to boost Malaysia-UK trade ties

KUCHING, April 2 — United Kingdom’s decision to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is anticipated to boost trade ties between Malaysia and the UK.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Plantation and Commodities Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the ministry welcomed the UK’s initiative and is looking forward to working closely with its new UK partners in the CPTPP.

“Not just that we welcomed UK into CPTPP, we also welcome its Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch’s remarks on palm oil, where she righ...

Singapore-China ties up another level, a ‘win-win’ for people on both sides, says PM Lee

BEIJING, April 2 — Bilateral ties between Singapore and China have gone up a level, which could create more opportunities for Singapore businesses as well as for their Chinese counterparts to do business in Singapore too, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong today.

“The Chinese do see the black clouds which all of us see,” Mr Lee said to Singapore media in Beijing at the end of his first official trip to China in four years.

“They see of course from the Chinese perspective, what problems it causes them and what the dangers are to them,” he sa...

Bank Negara continues engagement with key stakeholders in economic transition towards decarbonised future

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) will continue with its engagements with key stakeholders in navigating Malaysia’s economic transition towards a decarbonised future.

This includes involvement at international platforms such as the Network for Greening the Financial System and capacity-building to better understand and analyse climate risk effects to act pre-emptively.

BNM said it would also continue to prepare the banking sector to be more resilient in the face of climate change and continue to support the transition process within its opera...

In the wake of latest DBS outage in Singapore, what more can be done to protect customers?

SINGAPORE, March 31 — Although there are measures in place to protect the interests of bank users here, more can be done to improve the reliability of digital banking services and prevent disruptions like the one which hit DBS on Wednesday (March 29), said experts.

One suggestion they had was to publish service reliability reports of digital bank services to promote competition among the various banks here.

Banks should also reimburse customers for any losses they may incur from the disruption, such as late fees due to missed payments, the experts told TODAY on Thu...

Public Mutual declares more than RM147m distributions for 10 funds

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Public Bank Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Public Mutual Bhd has declared distributions amounting to more than RM147 million for 10 funds, for the financial year ended March 31, 2023.

In a statement today, the company announced gross distributions for Public Aggressive Growth Fund (2.00 sen per unit), Public Regular Savings Fund (1.20 sen per unit), Public Institutional Bond Fund (0.88 sen per unit), Public e-Asia Pacific REITs Flexi Fund (0.20 sen per unit), and PB Islamic SmallCap Fund (1.00 sen per unit).

The other funds are Public...

RHB Bank, Boost Holdings to subscribe shares in Boost Bhd for RM100m

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — RHB Bank Bhd, Boost Holdings Sdn Bhd and Boost Bhd have entered into a share subscription agreement for RHB Bank and Boost Holdings to subscribe for 100 million new ordinary shares in Boost Bhd for RM100 million.

Boost Holdings is an indirect subsidiary of Axiata Group Bhd.

RHB Bank and Boost Holdings have jointly incorporated Boost Bhd on March 1, 2023, which is subject to approval from Bank Negara Malaysia, and will be the legal entity to carry out digital banking business.

The share subscription agreement is for Boost Bhd to me...

PNB: ASB 2 and ASM unit holders receive RM1.64b total income distribution

KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s (PNB) wholly-owned unit trust management company, Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) has announced a total income distribution payout of RM1.64 billion for the financial year ending March 31, 2023.

In a statement today, it said Amanah Saham Bumiputera 2 (ASB 2) declared a total income distribution payout of RM0.62 billion, equivalent to 5.00 sen per unit to 513,244 unit holders who currently own 12.42 billion units.

Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) declared a total income distribution payout of RM1.02 billion, which...

Malaysians can now scan and pay Singaporean PayNow QR codes with local banking apps

KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 ― If you’re someone who frequently travels to Singapore, you’re probably already familiar with having to bring with you either their local currency or arrange with your bank to allow foreign transactions on your credit or debit card. However, Bank Negara has since confirmed that cross-border DuitNow QR payment with Singapore is now live. This means that Malaysians travelling to Singapore can make instant retail payments simply by scanning the Singaporean PayNow QR code displayed at participating merchants, while Singaporeans can do the same when in Malaysi...