Sustaining our moment in the sun
THE global economic landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by geopolitical realignments, most notably US-China rivalry, and a widespread corporate imperative to 'de-risk' and 'decouple' supply chains.
In this shifting terrain, Malaysia has admirably positioned itself as a stable and attractive hub for foreign direct investment (FDI). Microsoft's recent reaffirmation of its RM10.5bil investment in cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure here, despite global pullbacks elsewhere, is a powerful vote of confidence in our nation's potential.
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New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Gold recovers as Middle East tensions buoy demand; Fed meeting in focus
NEW YORK: Gold prices rebounded on Tuesday, as rising tensions between Israel and Iran buoyed demand for the safe-haven asset, while investors looked forward to the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week. Spot gold rose 0.5 per cent at US$3,399.90 an ounce, as of 0048 GMT, after dropping more than 1 per cent in the previous session. US gold futures edged 0.1 per cent higher to US$3,419.20. Israel and Iran attacked each other for a fifth straight day on Tuesday, and US President Donald Trump urged Iranians to evacuate Tehran, citing what he said was the country's rejection of a deal to curb nuclear weapons development. On Monday, an Israeli strike hit Iran's state broadcaster and the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog also indicated extensive damage to Iran's biggest uranium enrichment plant. Gold is considered a safe-haven asset during times of geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Investors will look forward to a host of central bank monetary policy decisions this week, with the spotlight on the Fed. The US central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at the end of its policy meeting on Wednesday. Its Chair Jerome Powell's comments following Fed's interest rate decision will be eagerly watched for more cues on the rate cut path. Stock indexes closed higher after last week's losses and a barrel of oil got US$1 cheaper on Monday as investors took heart from reports that Iran was seeking to end hostilities with Israel. SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.15 per cent to 941.93 tonnes on Monday from 940.49 tonnes on Friday. Elsewhere, spot silver was up 0.1 per cent at US$36.35 per ounce, platinum fell 0.3 per cent to US$1,242.03, while palladium eased 0.2 per cent to US$1,027.50.
Malay Mail
2 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Reuters Institute: Young users turning to AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini as news source over traditional media
PARIS, June 17 — People are increasingly turning to generative artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT to follow day-to-day news, a respected media report published Tuesday found. The yearly survey from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found 'for the first time' that significant numbers of people were using chatbots to get headlines and updates, director Mitali Mukherjee wrote. Attached to Britain's Oxford University, the Reuters Institute annual report is seen as unmissable for people following the ways the media is changing. Just seven percent of people report using AI to find news, according to the Institute's poll of 97,000 people in 48 countries, carried out by YouGov. But the proportion is higher among the young, at 12 percent of under-35s and 15 percent of under-25s. The biggest-name chatbot — OpenAI's ChatGPT — is the most widely used, followed by Google's Gemini and Meta's Llama. Respondents appreciated relevant, personalised news from chatbots. Many more used AI to summarise (27 percent), translate (24 percent) or recommend (21 percent) articles, while almost one in five asked questions about current events. Distrust remains, with those polled on balance saying AI risked making the news less transparent, less accurate and less trustworthy. Rather than being programmed, today's powerful AI 'large language models' (LLMs) are 'trained' on vast quantities of data from the web and other sources — including news media like text articles or video reports. Once trained, they are able to generate text and images in response to users' natural-language queries. But they present problems including 'hallucinations', the term used when AI invents information that fits patterns in their training data but is not true. Scenting a chance at revenue in a long-squeezed market, some news organisations have struck deals to share their content with developers of AI models. Agence France-Presse (AFP) allows the Mistral model from the French company of the same name to access its archive of news stories going back decades. Other media have launched copyright cases against AI makers over alleged illegal use of their content, for example the New York Times against ChatGPT developer OpenAI. Away from AI, the Reuters Institute report pointed to traditional media — TV, radio, newspapers and news sites — losing ground to social networks and video-sharing platforms. Almost half of 18-24-year-olds report that social media like TikTok is their main source of news, especially in emerging countries like India, Brazil, Indonesia and Thailand. The shift in news consumption habits has hit outlets' bottom lines. Tuesday's report said it has also given a leg-up to politicians like US President Donald Trump or Argentina's Javier Milei, who have been able to talk past traditional gatekeepers to reach voters directly. — AFP
New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Chow Tai Fook Jewellery plans to raise US$1.1bil via convertible bonds
KUALA LUMPUR: Hong Kong-listed Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group said on Tuesday it plans to raise HK$8.80 billion (US$1.12 billion) via a convertible bond sale. The bonds will have an initial conversion price of HK$17.32 per share, representing a premium of about 26.2 per cent above the jeweller's stock's last closing price on Monday. The company intends to use net proceeds of about HK$8.72 billion from the bond issuance for the development of its gold jewellery business, stores upgrades and expansion in domestic and international markets. The bonds, with an interest rate of 0.375 per cent per annum and maturing in 2030, will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the company said in a statement.
