KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed lower on Friday amid mixed regional market performance as investors turned cautious over a possible rate hike by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and upcoming US economic data that may influence the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) interest rate decision next week. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) pared most earlier losses to settle 4.55 points easier, or 0.28 per cent, to 1,616.52 from Thursday’s close of 1,621.07. The benchmark index, which opened 0.37 of-a-point lower at 1,620.70, moved between 1,609.67 and 1,621.25 throughout the day. The broader market was negative, with decliners outpacing advancers 604 to 439. A total of 550 counters were unchanged, 1,151 untraded, and 18 suspended. Turnover declined to 3.17 billion units worth RM2.24 billion from 4.48 billion units worth RM2.75 billion yesterday. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-presiden...
Investors are piling into Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US) call options, betting that the chipmaker’s rally will extend beyond its all-time high of $240.10 within days.
Traders Rush Into $250 Strike Calls
Out-of-the-money $250 call options expiring this Friday have become the hottest trade in AMD’s options market, with open interest surging to over 36,000 contracts — the highest among all AMD-linked options.
That’s a sharp climb from just 21,117 contracts a week ago, signaling mounting bullish speculation as AMD’s share price accelerates.
Shares closed 0.8% higher at $218.09, after briefly touching $224.98, driven by optimism following a major announcement with $Oracle (ORCL.US)$.
AI Partnerships Spark Renewed Enthusiasm
AMD said Oracle will deploy 50,000 AMD Instinct MI450 GPUs starting Q3 2026 to power the first publicly available AI supercluster — a partnership that underscores AMD’s growing relevance in the AI hardware race.
This comes just a week after AMD revealed that OpenAI plans to use 6 gigawatts of AMD GPUs under a deal projected to generate tens of billions in revenue. AMD also granted OpenAI a warrant to buy 160 million shares at a symbolic price of US$0.01 each, highlighting the strategic depth of the collaboration.
Analysts Turn Bullish — Some See $300 Target
AMD’s 2025 performance has been stellar, with shares up 81% year-to-date, outperforming both the PHLX Semiconductor Index (+32%) and the S&P 500 (+13%).
A wave of 34 analysts have recently raised their price targets, led by Wolfe Research’s Christopher Caso, who upgraded the stock to “Outperform” with a US$300 target.
Morningstar’s Brian Colello lifted his target to US$210 but maintained a neutral stance, noting that while AMD’s AI opportunity looks brighter, “NVIDIA remains the dominant player.”
Options Frenzy Reflects Growing AI Confidence
On Tuesday, more than 876,000 AMD options changed hands — making it the third most actively traded stock optionafter $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ and $Tesla (TSLA.US)$.
According to CFRA’s Angelo Zino, AMD’s progress in full-scale rack solutions and its ROCm open-source software platform signals “significant momentum heading into 2026.”
With strong AI tailwinds, robust institutional buying, and aggressive options activity, investors appear confident AMD’s rally still has room to run.
Investor takeaway:
AMD’s growing partnerships and technical progress in AI infrastructure are fueling both institutional optimism and speculative enthusiasm. However, investors should monitor execution risk and competitive dynamics with NVIDIA as AMD aims to secure a larger slice of the AI hardware market.
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