Japan's Nikkei ends flat as election, tariff worries overshadow chip stocks' gains
The Nikkei inched 0.04 per cent lower at 39,663.4. The broader Topix fell 0.21 per cent to 2,819.4.
"Investors have excuses for not buying or selling stocks," said Shigetoshi Kamada, general manager at the research department at Tachibana Securities.
"They are cautiously awaiting the outcome of the upper house election, while the outlook of the trade talks between is not clear even as the deadline approaches."
Opinion surveys suggest Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's coalition may lose its majority in the elections scheduled for July 20, forcing it to court an array of smaller parties pushing for easier fiscal and monetary policy.
Chip-related heavyweights Tokyo Electron and Advantest rose 1.75 per cent and 0.64 per cent, respectively, to track Nvidia's 4 per cent gain overnight.
Nvidia unveiled plans to resume sales of its H20 AI chip to China, pushing the Nasdaq Composite to end at another record high.
Toho jumped 10.09 per cent after the creator of the "Godzilla" movie franchise raised its annual net profit forecast.
Uniqlo-brand owner Fast Retailing slipped 0.91 per cent to weigh on the Nikkei the most.
Toyota Motor lost 0.89 per cent even as the yen fell to a more than three-month low against the dollar.
"Investors could not buy Toyota despite the yen's weakness because they are concerned about the tariff negotiations," said Kamada.
Local media reported Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is arranging to meet with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Tokyo on Friday ahead of an August 1 deadline to strike a trade deal with the United States, else face punishing tariff of 25 per cent.
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Malay Mail
19 hours ago
- Malay Mail
US government turmoil stalls thousands of export approvals, sources say
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But sources said this week no licenses have yet been issued, and billions of dollars of AI chip orders are at stake. One US official said the backlog of license applications is the lengthiest in more than three decades. A spokesperson for Nvidia declined to comment. The Commerce Department defended its licensing practices, saying its Bureau of Industry and Security 'will no longer rubber-stamp license applications that raise grave questions of national security,' a spokesperson said. 'BIS is driving forward President Trump's agenda through strong rules and aggressive enforcement,' the person added. The turmoil and resulting inaction at an agency tasked with promoting overseas trade and safeguarding American technology are alarming both those seeking tougher restrictions on exports to China and companies trying to sell their wares abroad. 'Licensing is how the US does business and competes globally,' said Meghan Harris, who served on the National Security Council in the first Trump administration and has worked at Commerce. 'Delays and unpredictability put us at an unnecessary disadvantage.' BIS averaged 38 days per export license application in fiscal year 2023, the most recent data available, denying 2 per cent of 37,943 applications. The license process enforces US export restrictions in an effort to make sure sensitive goods and technology do not reach countries or entities whose use of the items could harm US national security. Some staff have criticised Jeffrey Kessler, who became BIS undersecretary in March, saying he has micromanaged the bureau and failed to communicate adequately. At a staff meeting soon after he took office, Kessler urged BIS staff to limit communications with company representatives and industry officials, according to two additional sources, who said he later asked for all meetings to be entered on a spreadsheet. Getting approval from Kessler's office to attend meetings with other government agencies has also been tricky, those sources said, speaking anonymously because they were not authorised to speak publicly. The BIS spokesperson said Kessler 'is restoring integrity' to the bureau and enjoys Lutnick's 'full confidence.' Frustration among exporters Frustration is growing within US industry. 'We're seeing whole sectors where there is no movement or indication if or when licenses will be issued,' including license applications for semiconductor manufacturing equipment worth billions of dollars, said Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council. While the clock is ticking on license applications, 'Chinese companies are exploring and doing deals with suppliers in China and other countries,' he said. 'The longer we have the delay, the more market share we're going to lose.' Jim Anzalone, president of Compliance Assurance, a Florida-based trade consultancy, said he has seen delays in license approvals for sensors, radars, and sonar to Latin America and other parts of the world. 'There's nothing official about what the policy is and when the backlog would be cleared,' he said. He has received denials sporadically after submitting some two dozen applications months ago to export semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China, including four denials on Wednesday, he added. Sources stressed that some licenses are getting approved, especially exports to allied countries, and they noted that some communication with companies continues, especially around license applications. Commerce is also delaying regulatory changes. The agency said in May it would rescind and replace a Biden administration rule before it went into effect that month restricting where AI chips can be exported, but the agency has not done so yet. Other rules, which sources said have been drafted for months, have not been published, including one to expand export restrictions to subsidiaries of companies already banned from receiving controlled US exports. Meanwhile, important staff vacancies such as China-based export control officers have not been filled, and high-level career employees have resigned. A retirement party was held this week for Dan Clutch, acting director of the BIS Office of Export Enforcement, the latest experienced staff member to leave. — Reuters
The Star
21 hours ago
- The Star
U.S. stocks sink on tepid U.S. jobs data, erratic trade policies
NEW YORK, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks tumbled Friday, weighed down by a weaker-than-expected jobs report that signaled a cooling labor market and growing investor unease over the Trump administration's erratic trade policies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 542.4 points, or 1.23 percent, to 43,588.58. The S&P 500 declined 1.6 percent to 6,238.01, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 2.24 percent to 20,650.13. Losses were broad across the market, with eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors closing lower. Consumer discretionary and technology stocks led the decline, falling 3.59 percent and 2.07 percent, respectively. Health care and consumer staples were among the few bright spots, rising 0.58 percent and 0.53 percent. The U.S. economy added just 73,000 jobs in July, far below the 104,000 forecast. Previous months' job gains were also revised down sharply, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent in June. U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the report as a "mistake," and announced the dismissal of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer. He also renewed criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. "This is a gamechanger jobs report. The labor market now looks a lot weaker than expected," said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. Bank of America warned that the data raised the risk of "bad cuts" by the Fed on Friday. Markets see a nearly 90 percent chance that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Markets were also rattled by a sweeping executive order signed by Trump on Thursday, which hiked tariffs on Canadian goods to 35 percent and set "reciprocal" tariffs on dozens of other countries. Tech stocks were hit hard. Amazon dropped 8.27 percent despite posting better-than-expected second-quarter results. Apple declined 2.5 percent, reversing earlier gains after releasing strong earnings. Meta lost about 3 percent, while Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, Broadcom, and Tesla all slid more than 1.5 percent. "Traders are locking in gains as tech earnings fade, macro risks grow, and seasonality turns negative. Breadth is narrowing, valuations are stretched, and defensive positioning is quietly building," said Joseph Cusick, portfolio specialist at Calamos Investments.
The Sun
a day ago
- The Sun
Defining moment for Malaysia's AI, data centre ambitions
PETALING JAYA: As US-led semiconductor chip restrictions tighten and regional energy costs rise, Malaysia faces a defining moment in its artificial intelligence (AI) and data centre ambitions. Industry leaders say these global disruptions could either stall the nation's progress or become the very trigger that accelerates its push for AI self-reliance and digital sovereignty. National Tech Association of Malaysia research committee chairman Woon Tai Hai said the recent US export curbs on high-end AI chips, such as Nvidia's H100 and A100, are already impacting AI-focused startups, research institutions and data centre operators in Malaysia. 'These chips are crucial for training large AI models and powering generative AI applications. Without them, we're seeing delays in deployment and increased costs for local developers,' he told SunBiz. While some companies are pivoting to older graphic processing unit (GPU) models or exploring Chinese-made alternatives, such as Huawei's Ascend chips, the transition is not seamless. Compatibility issues, software support gaps and geopolitical uncertainty make it a complex adjustment. Meanwhile, electricity and cooling costs have surged, especially with Malaysia's high ambient temperatures pushing the limits of energy efficiency in data centres. Coupled with US tariffs on Malaysian exports and the weakening ringgit, Woon said, the environment is increasingly hostile for small players. 'This triple hit of chip shortages, energy inflation and trade pressure could force some AI projects to downscale or pause altogether.' However, Woon believes this challenge presents a rare opportunity for Malaysia to reposition itself. 'We are still an attractive alternative to Singapore for hyperscalers, especially with land and energy constraints over there,' he said, pointing to recent investments such as Google's RM9.4 billion data centre in Selangor. He added that Malaysia could leverage this disruption to double down on home-grown capabilities, forge new global partnerships beyond the US-China binary and evolve from being just a digital consumer to a true AI contributor. 'This is not just a supply chain issue; it's a wake-up call. If we want to lead in AI, we can't import our way to success,' Woon stressed. Universiti Malaysia Kelantan Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Big Data director Dr Muhammad Akmal Remli warned that Malaysia's long-standing dependency on foreign hardware, cloud platforms and proprietary models has become a strategic liability. 'The AI ecosystem doesn't just rely on talent and data. It runs on compute power and right now, Malaysia doesn't own its compute destiny,' he said. Akmal called for a comprehensive localisation strategy, beginning with substantial investment in foundational AI research and development through universities, public research agencies and long-term national programmes. 'We can't just be training people to use ChatGPT. We need to train them to build the next generation of language models,' he explained. Beyond research and development, Akmal proposed the creation of strategic hardware stockpiles and investment in alternative chip architectures, such as RISC-V, Graphcore and Tenstorrent, to diversify away from US-made GPUs. 'Waiting for supply to return to normal is naive. This is structural, not cyclical,' he warned. Akmal also urged the government to champion a sovereign compute initiative, a state-supported push to establish Malaysia's own high-performance computing infrastructure. 'This is no longer a luxury. We need our own compute backbone to support AI research, secure data hosting and digital services that cannot be outsourced,' he said. While some pilot efforts exist, Akmal noted that they remain fragmented and underfunded. What's missing, he said, is a unified national AI policy that aligns research, compute infrastructure, industry application and talent development under one coordinated strategy. 'Right now, we have isolated efforts by Mimos, Mosti, universities and agencies like MRANTI, but they aren't talking to each other. We need a central AI authority or framework to synchronise this,' he said. Akmal also cautioned that Malaysia's delay in building domestic capacity will ultimately result in higher costs. 'We are not just competing for tech, we're competing for independence. The AI race is about who owns the tools of the future, and right now we're still borrowing them,' he said. Akmal believes that Malaysia still has the talent, infrastructure and investor interest to build a competitive, ethical and independent AI ecosystem, but only if it takes bold steps now. 'AI is not just about innovation anymore. It's about sovereignty, resilience and relevance in a fractured world.'
