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Market Daily Report: Bursa Malaysia Gives Up Earlier Gains To End Mixed

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia gave up earlier gains to end mixed today, amid a higher regional market showing, as property, construction, and healthcare counters attracted buying interests, while plantation, banking, and telecommunication stocks saw some profit-taking, an analyst said. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.70 points to close at 1,602.34 from yesterday’s close of 1,604.04. The benchmark index, which opened 0.86 of-a-point lower at 1,603.18, moved between 1,601.02 and 1,608.88 during the trading session. However, the broader market was mixed to higher, with gainers leading decliners by 565 to 438 while 502 counters remained unchanged, 961 untraded, and 14 suspended. Turnover narrowed to 2.83 billion units valued at RM2.08 billion versus 2.96 billion units valued at RM2.23 billion yesterday. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the benchmark index remained range-bound and it required a dec
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Microsoft's Azure Growth Slows, Testing Investor Confidence Amid AI Investments

 

Microsoft Corp’s Azure cloud-computing service reported slower quarterly growth, disappointing investors eager for returns from the company’s substantial investments in artificial intelligence (AI) products.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Slowing Growth in Azure: Azure's revenue grew by 29% in the fiscal fourth quarter, down from a 31% rise in the previous quarter. AI contributed eight percentage points to this growth, up from seven in the prior period.

  2. Impact on Shares: Microsoft’s shares fell about 3% in premarket trading on Wednesday following the announcement.

  3. AI Investments and Challenges: CEO Satya Nadella has integrated AI technology from OpenAI into Microsoft’s products, including digital assistants called Copilots. However, corporate customers are just starting to adopt these AI assistants, which still face some challenges.

  4. Capital Expenditures: Capital expenditures jumped to $19 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $14 billion in the previous quarter, as Microsoft invests heavily in data centers and servers to meet cloud and AI service demand.

  5. Earnings and Revenue: Total revenue increased by 15% to $64.7 billion in the fourth quarter, with adjusted profit at $2.95 per share, meeting analysts' expectations.

  6. Future Outlook: CFO Amy Hood indicated that while Azure growth would continue to slow in the current quarter, investments in data centers and servers would drive growth acceleration in the second half of fiscal 2025.

  7. Cybersecurity and Gaming: Microsoft’s cybersecurity products and Xbox video-gaming unit showed strong performance, with Defender for Cloud surpassing $1 billion in revenue and a 61% increase in Xbox content and services revenue.

Despite the slowing growth in Azure, Microsoft's significant investments in AI and cloud infrastructure are expected to pay off in the longer term, with a positive outlook for the second half of fiscal 2025.

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