KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed almost flat on Tuesday as buying interest rotated away from index heavyweights towards smaller-cap construction stocks, with sentiment affected by geopolitical uncertainty, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.39 of a point to 1,714.40 from Monday’s close of 1,714.79. The benchmark index opened 1.65 points lower at 1,713.14 and moved between 1,710.44 and 1,714.50 throughout the trading session. The broader market was almost evenly balanced, with decliners leading gainers 548 to 546, while 598 counters were unchanged, 1,107 were untraded and 25 were suspended. Turnover expanded to 4.13 billion units valued at RM3.14 billion from 3.60 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion on Monday.
AI-Driven Cost Efficiency Hong Leong Bank (HLBANK) projects a lower cost-income ratio (CIR) due to AI adoption , expecting CIR to drop below 40% , compared to its previous 41% guidance . For 1HFY2025, CIR stood at 38.8%, exceeding expectations despite heavy IT and digital investments. AI is being expanded beyond collections and telemarketing to other operations, including boosting relationship managers’ productivity. Strategic AI & Digital Banking Collaboration Hong Leong Bank partners with China’s largest digital bank, WeBank Technology Services , serving 400M retail customers & 5M businesses . The alliance will focus on AI, automation, and sales/service digitization to enhance efficiency and technological capabilities. Workforce & Regulatory Impacts AI adoption will not affect workforce numbers (~10,000 employees) but aims to improve productivity. The removal of the Rule of 78 interest calculation method is expected to ...