![MARKET PULSE AM JULY 31, 2025 [WATCH]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.nst.com.my%2Fimages%2Farticles%2FHQ20250206EZ_%25282%2529_%25285%2529_1753930816.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
MARKET PULSE AM JULY 31, 2025 [WATCH]
Bursa Malaysia's 30-stock index opened lower, following Wall Street's mixed performance due to the Federal Reserve's decision not to cut rates as it continues to assess the impact of Trump's tariffs.
On the local front, investors awaited the tabling of 13th Malaysia Plan and the Aug 1 deadline for the implementation of a US tariff tomorrow.
Due to the lack of catalysts, the FBM KLCI is expected to possibly trend between the 1,520 to 1,530 range today.
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin rose to RM501,998.
Ethereum showed a positive trend, rising to RM16,299, while Solana traded at RM763.
That is it for Market Pulse.
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The Star
7 hours ago
- The Star
From Laos to Brazil, Trump's tariffs leave a lot of losers. But even the winners like Vietnam will pay a price
WASHINGTON (AP): President Donald Trump's tariff onslaught this week left a lot of losers - from small, poor countries like Laos and Algeria to wealthy US trading partners like Canada and Switzerland. They're now facing especially hefty taxes - tariffs - on the products they export to the United States starting Aug. 7. The closest thing to winners may be the countries that caved to Trump's demands - and avoided even more pain. But it's unclear whether anyone will be able to claim victory in the long run - even the United States, the intended beneficiary of Trump's protectionist policies. "In many respects, everybody's a loser here,'' said Barry Appleton, co-director of the Center for International Law at the New York Law School. Barely six months after he returned to the White House, Trump has demolished the old global economic order. Gone is one built on agreed-upon rules. In its place is a system in which Trump himself sets the rules, using America's enormous economic power to punish countries that won't agree to one-sided trade deals and extracting huge concessions from the ones that do. "The biggest winner is Trump,' said Alan Wolff, a former U.S. trade official and deputy director-general at the World Trade Organization. "He bet that he could get other countries to the table on the basis of threats, and he succeeded - dramatically.'' Everything goes back to what Trump calls "Liberation Day'' - April 2 - when the president announced "reciprocal'' taxes of up to 50% on imports from countries with which the United States ran trade deficits and 10% "baseline'' taxes on almost everyone else. He invoked a 1977 law to declare the trade deficit a national emergency that justified his sweeping import taxes. That allowed him to bypass Congress, which traditionally has had authority over taxes, including tariffs - all of which is now being challenged in court. Trump retreated temporarily after his Liberation Day announcement triggered a rout in financial markets and suspended the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to give countries a chance to negotiate. Eventually, some of them did, caving to Trump's demands to pay what four months ago would have seemed unthinkably high tariffs for the privilege of continuing to sell into the vast American market. The United Kingdom agreed to 10% tariffs on its exports to the United States - up from 1.3% before Trump amped up his trade war with the world. The US demanded concessions even though it had run a trade surplus, not a deficit, with the UK for 19 straight years. The European Union and Japan accepted U.S. tariffs of 15%. Those are much higher than the low single-digit rates they paid last year - but lower than the tariffs he was threatening (30% on the EU and 25% on Japan). Also cutting deals with Trump and agreeing to hefty tariffs were Pakistan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. Even countries that saw their tariffs lowered from April without reaching a deal are still paying much higher tariffs than before Trump took office. Angola's tariff, for instance, dropped to 15% from 32% in April, but in 2022 it was less than 1.5%. And while Trump administration cut Taiwan's tariff to 20% from 32% in April, the pain will still be felt. "20% from the beginning has not been our goal, we hope that in further negotiations we will get a more beneficial and more reasonable tax rate,' Taiwan's president Lai Ching-te told reporters in Taipei Friday. Trump also agreed to reduce the tariff on the tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho to 15% from the 50% he'd announced in April, but the damage may already have been done there. Countries that didn't knuckle under - and those that found other ways to incur Trump's wrath - got hit harder. Even some of the poor were not spared. Laos' annual economic output comes to $2,100 per person and Algeria's $5,600 - versus America's $75,000. Nonetheless, Laos got rocked with a 40% tariff and Algeria with a 30% levy. Trump slammed Brazil with a 50% import tax largely because he didn't like the way it was treating former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing trial for trying to lose his electoral defeat in 2022. Never mind that the U.S. has exported more to Brazil than it's imported every year since 2007. Trump's decision to plaster a 35% tariff on longstanding U.S. ally Canada was partly designed to threaten Ottawa for saying it would recognize a Palestinian state. Trump is a staunch supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Switzerland was clobbered with a 39% import tax - even higher than the 31% Trump originally announced on April 2. "The Swiss probably wish that they had camped in Washington'' to make a deal, said Wolff, now senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "They're clearly not at all happy.'' Fortunes may change if Trump's tariffs are upended in court. Five American businesses and 12 states are suing the president, arguing that his Liberation Day tariffs exceeded his authority under the 1977 law. In May, the U.S. Court of International Trade , a specialized court in New York, agreed and blocked the tariffs, although the government was allowed to continue collecting them while its appeal wend its way through the legal system, and may likely end up at the U.S. Supreme Court. In a hearing Thursday, the judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sounded skeptical about Trump's justifications for the tariffs. "If (the tariffs) get struck down, then maybe Brazil's a winner and not a loser,'' Appleton said. Trump portrays his tariffs as a tax on foreign countries. But they are actually paid by import companies in the U.S. who try to pass along the cost to their customers via higher prices. True, tariffs can hurt other countries by forcing their exporters to cut prices and sacrifice profits - or risk losing market share in the United States. But economists at Goldman Sachs estimate that overseas exporters have absorbed just one-fifth of the rising costs from tariffs, while Americans and U.S. businesses have picked up the most of the tab. Walmart, Procter & Gamble, Ford, Best Buy, Adidas, Nike, Mattel and Stanley Black & Decker, have all hiked prices due to U.S. tariffs. "This is a consumption tax, so it disproportionately affects those who have lower incomes,'' Appleton said. "Sneakers, knapsacks ... your appliances are going to go up. Your TV and electronics are going to go up. Your video game devices, consoles are going to up because none of those are made in America.'' Trump's trade war has pushed the average U.S. tariff from 2.5% at the start of 2025 to 18.3% now, the highest since 1934, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University. And that will impose a $2,400 cost on the average household, the lab estimates. "The US consumer's a big loser,″ Wolff said. -- AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this story.
The Sun
7 hours ago
- The Sun
New Kuching airport access road to ease traffic by September
KUCHING: The construction of an eight-kilometer access road connecting Jalan Datuk Mohamad Musa in Kota Samarahan to the southern access road of the airport is expected to be fully completed this September. Works Minister, Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi, said the road, which is categorised as a federal road, will serve as an alternative route to alleviate the frequent traffic congestion between Kota Samarahan and Kuching. 'The current progress is at 96 percent, with only four percent remaining, which involves the installation of road equipment and lights. I understand the entire project can be completed next month,' he told reporters after an official working visit to the project site today. He also stated that the development agenda for the 13th Malaysia Plan under his ministry in Sarawak will be aligned with the state's Post-Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS 2030). He said infrastructure development like roads, education, health, and industries are among the priorities under this plan, in line with the Sarawak State Government's commitment to drive the green energy and sustainable technology sectors. 'The 13th Malaysia Plan document clearly states that Sarawak and Sabah will become energy industry hubs. Therefore, the implementation of infrastructure projects like this is crucial,' he said. Commenting on his ministry's role, Nanta said the Ministry of Works (KKR), through the Public Works Department (JKR), plays a significant role as the primary implementer of national infrastructure development. 'Besides building roads, JKR also assists other ministries like the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health in building and repairing schools, colleges, hospitals, and clinics,' he added. - Bernama
New Straits Times
8 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Nuclear energy under govt review for future power mix
PUTRAJAYA: The government is conducting a structured assessment to explore the role of nuclear energy as a potential source of clean, stable and competitive electricity in the country's future energy mix. This initiative considers the need to diversify energy sources, strengthen long-term energy security, support carbon emission reduction targets, and reduce dependence on fossil fuels, in line with Malaysia's climate change commitments and rising energy demand. The Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry said the Nuclear Energy Programme Implementing Organisation (NEPIO), under MyPOWER Corporation, has been tasked with coordinating preparatory efforts based on guidelines recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "This preparatory phase is being carried out through the coordination of an organised framework via a technical committee mechanism involving ministries, departments and agencies to ensure a comprehensive and integrated national approach. "Its implementation will be guided by the IAEA Milestone Approach, which includes national positioning, the development of legal and regulatory frameworks, stakeholder engagement and human capital development," it said in a statement today. However, it said that no decision has been made at this stage regarding the implementation, type of technology or capacity of any nuclear reactor to be developed. The ministry said the government's priority is to ensure that any future decision is based on comprehensive technical analysis and aligned with national development priorities, while also complying with international obligations. "This is in line with the aspirations of Malaysia Madani, which emphasises long-term national planning that is grounded in knowledge, sustainable resource use and the well-being of the people and future generations." On Thursday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, during the tabling of the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP), said the government is considering nuclear energy as one of the safe, competitive and clean energy sources for the future. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang was reported as saying that a bill to amend Malaysia's atomic energy legislation may be tabled in the current parliamentary session. – Bernama
