KLCI up 0.17pct at midday amid weaker market

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia traded mixed at midday, as losses across the broader market were offset by gains in several index heavyweights, nudging the benchmark higher.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 2.62 points to 1,526.46, up 0.17 per cent from Wednesday's close of 1,523.84. The gains were led by Maybank, YTL Power, and CelcomDigi.
Maybank rose nine sen to RM9.79, while YTL Power and CelcomDigi added eight sen each to RM3.73 and RM3.80, respectively. Collectively, the three counters contributed 3.80 points to the index.
The benchmark opened 3.87 points higher at 1,527.71 and fluctuated between 1,523.22 and 1,528.72 during the morning session.
Market breadth remained negative. Decliners outpaced gainers 446 to 278, while 477 counters were unchanged, 1,194 untraded, and 17 suspended.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd noted that the local bourse ended higher on Wednesday as it tracked gains on Wall Street and regional markets, supported by improved breadth and stronger trading activity.
"The KLCI may continue to consolidate with a slight upward bias, buoyed by the conclusion of the second round of US-China trade talks in London.
"However, broader market sentiment remains cautious amid lingering uncertainty over the pending US-Malaysia tariff agreement and the traditionally soft seasonality for June. Investor confidence remains under pressure amid a fragile global trade environment," it said in a research note today.
Among other gainers in the heavyweight group, IHH Healthcare rose four sen to RM6.90, Petronas Gas climbed 16 sen to RM17.86, Maxis added four sen to RM3.63 and Petronas Chemicals was three sen higher at RM3.35.
In active trade, Jiankun inched up half-a-sen to three sen, while MYEG, Tanco and Velesto were flat at 97 sen, 97.5 sen and 18.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 7.98 points to 11,445.72, the FBMT 100 Index gained 10.40 points to 11,213.94, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 8.03 points to 11,400.70.
The FBM 70 Index slipped 19.92 points to 16,505.30, while the FBM ACE Index dropped 36.0 points to 4,508.05.
By sector, the Energy Index advanced 6.54 points to 730.31 and the Financial Services Index rose 2.31 points to 17,781.46. The Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.03 points to 152.28, while the Plantation Index declined 9.32 points to 7,204.50.

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The Star

36 minutes ago

The Star

Bangladesh faces textile tsunami

BANGLADESH's limited capacity to deal with the enormous waste generated by its textile sector may prove unsustainable as the global fashion industry faces pressure to reduce its environmental footprint. The world's second-largest apparel producer, Bangladesh only recycles a small percentage of its textile waste, with the rest shipped abroad or left to pollute the landscape. As more countries introduce rules requiring greater recycled content in clothes, analysts and business owners say Bangladesh must expand recycling to meet demand from a global textile recycling market projected to be worth US$9.4bil by 2027. The European Union published in March its first roadmap towards meeting the standards under its Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, which includes provisions for reducing the environmental harm caused by the textile industry. This will require Bangladesh and other fashion suppliers to boost recycling while improving working conditions in what is largely an informal sector, said Patrick Schroder, a senior research fellow at the British think tank Chatham House. 'As the call for recycling grows and fast fashion goes out of fashion in the coming years, millions of jobs will be impacted, and Bangladesh needs to think ahead to step up its capacity to keep up with the changes,' he said. Tonnes of waste Bangladesh's fashion industry is estimated to produce up to 577,000 metric tonnes of textile waste from the factories each year. Most of it is shipped abroad, and the rest is left to clog bodies of water, pollute the soil, enter landfills or be incinerated, which produces toxic gases, according to a report by Switch to Circular Economy Value Chains, a project supported by the EU and the Finnish government. What is processed has evolved into a vast, informal business in Bangladesh. Thousands of informal workshops sort and bundle the waste, known as jhut, and what remains in Bangladesh is downcycled to make low-value products like mattresses, pillows and cushions. When clothing scraps are swept up from factory floors, politicians and other influential people control who gets them and at what price, said Asadun Noor, project coordinator at the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation in Dhaka. 'This is a very opaque process, offering limited visibility of the waste value chain to clothing brands and suppliers,' he said. The scraps go to hundreds of mostly unregistered workshops near the capital Dhaka, where they are cleaned and sorted into batches based on quality, colour and other considerations. Tens of thousands of workers, 70% of them women, sort the remnants for 10 to 12 hours a day, a study by the UN's children agency Unicef said last year. Workers said they toil for low wages without key safety measures, like drinking water, paid sick leave or protection from harassment. One of them is Sabura Begum, 30, who works with 250 other women at a workshop in the city of Narayanganj, near Dhaka. 'I earn a wage of about US$80 a month and it does not make it easy to run my family,' she said. A small share of the waste sorted in workshops like Begum's is sent to about two dozen recycling factories in Bangladesh. A large portion is exported to other countries such as India or Finland for recycling into new fibre where this is a larger base of recycling facilities as well as advanced technology like chemical recycling that produces strong, fresh fibres. Some of the fibres made from exported scraps are then sent back to Bangladesh to be made into clothes. More local recycling could save Bangladesh about US$700mil a year in imports, the Switch to Circular Economy Value Chains report estimated. Other major textile hubs are ramping up recycling capacity. For example, India recycles or reuses about 4.7 million tonnes, or about 60%, of its textile waste, according to a report by Fashion for Good, a coalition of businesses and non-profits. Doing a better job Some Bangladeshi companies are aiming to compete and provide proper labour standards. In 2017, Entrepreneur Abdur Razzaque set up Recycle Raw, which has now become one of the largest waste-processing businesses in Bangladesh. 'We offer decent wages and respect basic labour standards – ensuring things like drinking water, air circulation and security for our largely female workforce – so we attract and retain them much better than others,' Abdur Razzaque said. A few local recycling factories are also investing in adding more production lines, but large-scale investment in technology like chemical recycling, with support from fashion brands and development-finance organisations is needed, said Abdullah Rafi, CEO of recycler Broadway Regenerated Fibre, based in the city of Ashulia, near Dhaka. However, investors expect a regular supply of waste feed stock and that means the current opaque system of handling waste would have to go, he said. 'What we now need is more finance and collaboration among brands, suppliers, waste handlers and recyclers to scale up our capacity,' said Abdullah. — Reuters

KL ranks 18th in Emerging Startup Ecosystems, historic first for Malaysia

The Sun

an hour ago

The Sun

KL ranks 18th in Emerging Startup Ecosystems, historic first for Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Kuala Lumpur has entered the Top 20 Emerging Startup Ecosystems in a historic first for Malaysia after ranking 18th in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) 2025 by Startup Genome. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), in a statement, said the milestone reflects the tangible results of Malaysia's coordinated national innovation agenda, with strategic startup ecosystem programmes and capital mobilisation efforts now showing measurable impact. It stated that the GSER, considered the world's most comprehensive analysis of startup ecosystems, evaluates over 300 cities across more than 100 countries, and highlights Kuala Lumpur's progress across performance, funding, talent development and most notably, market reach. MOSTI said Startup Genome noted that early-stage funding in Kuala Lumpur reached RM1.5 billion (US$368 million) over the past two and a half years, an increase of over 40 per cent from the previous cycle - a clear indicator of rising investor confidence and ecosystem momentum. The ministry said the country's growing global recognition in innovation is driven by its maturing ecosystem, guided by the long-term Ekonomi MADANI policy. Central to this progress are two key national strategies - the Malaysia Startup Ecosystem Roadmap (SUPER), launched in 2021, and the KL20 Action Plan, introduced in April 2024. According to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang, the progress reflects years of deliberate policy design and institution-building under SUPER, which laid the foundational infrastructure for growth across capital formation, talent development and regulatory frameworks. 'Kuala Lumpur's entry into the Top 20 Emerging Ecosystems marks a significant leap forward from its previous placement in the 21-30 band between 2022 and 2024, underscoring the momentum achieved through policy coherence and stakeholder alignment. 'A key contributor to this rise was the marked improvement in the city's Market Reach score - jumping from two to 10, which reflects the growing ability of Malaysian startups to access international markets, scale beyond domestic borders and compete globally. 'Under MOSTI's leadership and with Cradle Fund as our focal point agency, we are collaborating closely with public and private sector partners to elevate the nation's startup ecosystem, empower founders, and position Malaysia as a destination of choice for global startups, talent and investors,' he said in the statement. In this year's report, Startup Genome highlighted ecosystem performance, talent depth, capital availability and market reach as key drivers of Kuala Lumpur's improved standing, including 44 per cent rise in early-stage funding from US$255 million to US$368 million, a 22 per cent increase of total venture capital funding that reached US$3.3 billion and surge of market reach score from two to 10. With over 4,400 startups supported under the national MYStartup Single Window initiative ( Malaysia's innovation ecosystem is rapidly transitioning from promise to performance, with the government now setting its sights on the next milestone: positioning Malaysia among the Top 20 Global Startup Ecosystems by 2030.

Kuala Lumpur Ranks 18th in Global Startup Ecosystem 2025