Bank Negara expected to hold rates steady through 2025 after OPR cut – investment banks

KUALA LUMPUR: Public Investment Bank Bhd (Public IB) expects Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to hold interest rates steady for the remainder of 2025, following the recent overnight policy rate (OPR) cut. Yesterday, BNM reduced the OPR by 25 basis points (bps) to 2.75 per cent at its fourth Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the year, marking...

Bank Negara cuts OPR to 2.75% in first rate move since May 2023

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara has cut the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) by 25 basis points to 2.75% at its July Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, marking the first rate adjustment since May 2023. The latest move by Bank Negara was broadly in line with market expectations, following a Bloomberg poll that showed economists were split, with...

Wage reform can ease inflation, cost of living pressure – Bank Negara

KUALA LUMPUR: Controlling inflation alone is insufficient to alleviate cost-of-living pressures, said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), highlighting the urgent need for structural reforms to address stagnant wage growth and ensure that incomes keep pace with rising prices. Deputy Governor Datuk Marzunisham Omar said that although headline inflation has eased significantly due to timely monetary policy tightening, price...

Bursa Malaysia ends higher lifted by plantation, construction stocks

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed at its intraday high on Monday, driven by bargain hunting in heavyweights with a focus on plantation and construction stocks. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 12.45 points, or 0.77 per cent, to 1,616.43 from Friday’s close of 1,603.98. The benchmark index opened 3.77 points firmer at...

Bank Negara unlikely to follow US Fed rate cut, eyes domestic and global conditions

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is unlikely to move in direct lockstep with the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) aggressive move which slashed interest rates by a half-point during its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting yesterday. The Fed decided to cut the Fed Funds Rate (FFR) by 50 basis points, bringing it to 4.75 per...

Malaysia to leverage AI to detect suspicious financial transactions – BNM governor

KUALA LUMPUR: The National Fraud Portal (NFP) launched today will leverage on artificial intelligence (AI) to detect suspicious transactions through predictive analysis. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Datuk Seri Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said one of the NFP’s main characteristics is its modular design which allows for continuous improvements to be made on the existing basic infrastructure. He...

Bank Negara international reserves rise to US$114.7bil

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara’s international reserve rose to US$114.7bil as at July 31 compared with US$113.3bil as at July 15. “The reserves position is sufficient to finance 5.5 months of imports of goods and services, and is 1.0 times of the total short-term external debt,” the central bank said in a statement. The main components of the...

Bank Negara analyst’s testimony on 1MDB money trail based on Najib’s bank statement, court hears

KUALA LUMPUR: The prosecution in Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MBD) trial told the High Court here that Bank Negara analyst Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan's testimony on the flow of money in 1MDB was based on his analysis on the former premier's bank statements as well as other documentation. Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad...

Ringgit likely in range-bound trading this week; to stay within the RM4.63 and RM4.65 range

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): The ringgit is expected to trade range-bound with a downward bias against the US dollar this week as the greenback may gain support surrounding global economic uncertainties, an analyst said. Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the local currency is expected to trade between...

Covid-19: BNM Foregoes All SME & Individual Loan Repayments For 6 Months

Well amidst all this calamity, it would seem that adulting just got a little easier! Based on an article by The Edge Markets, as a means to help with the burden on businesses and households that could be affected by Covid-19, Bank Negara Malaysia has granted an automatic moratorium on loan repayments to small and medium enterprises...