KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia rebounded to close higher on Wednesday on selective buying of defensive stocks after a volatile trading session. IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said consumer products and services stocks lifted the key index higher, overcoming lingering geopolitical concerns. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.08 points to 1,715.56 from yesterday’s close of 1,712.48. The benchmark index, which opened 1.91 points higher at 1,714.39, moved between 1,710.79 and 1,720.59 during the day’s trading. In the broader market, gainers outstripped decliners 550 to 476, while 612 counters were unchanged, 1,129 untraded, and 48 suspended. Turnover rose to 2.96 billion units valued at RM2.48 billion from 2.94 billion units valued at RM2.56 billion on Tuesday.
Samsung Electronics, the world’s leading maker of smartphones, TVs, and memory chips, plans to cut up to 30% of its overseas staff in certain divisions, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter, as reported by Reuters.
South Korea-based Samsung has instructed its subsidiaries worldwide to reduce sales and marketing staff by approximately 15% and administrative staff by up to 30%, according to two of the sources. This reduction will be implemented by the end of this year and will affect jobs across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
While it is unclear how many employees will be affected and which specific countries and business units will experience the most significant impact, six additional people familiar with the matter confirmed Samsung’s plan for a global reduction in headcount.
The sources, who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the information, indicated that the scope and details of the job cuts have not been fully disclosed. In a statement, Samsung described the workforce adjustments in some overseas operations as routine measures aimed at improving efficiency, clarifying that there are no specific targets for the job cuts and that production staff will not be impacted.
As of the end of 2023, Samsung employed 267,800 people, with more than half, or 147,000 employees, based overseas, according to its latest sustainability report. The majority of these jobs were in manufacturing and development, with about 25,100 sales and marketing staff and 27,800 employees in other areas.
The directive for job cuts, described as a “global mandate,” was issued about three weeks ago. In India, Samsung has already begun offering severance packages to some mid-level employees, and up to 1,000 employees may be affected, according to one of the sources. Samsung employs around 25,000 people in India.
In China, Samsung has notified its staff about job cuts, which are expected to impact around 30% of its employees in the sales division, as reported by a South Korean newspaper earlier this month.
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