Free Malaysia Today
중도 성향
IT/기술
Bitcoin drops below US$60,000, a first since October 2024
An analyst says long-term investors could view the dip as a buying opportunity and flagged several potential tailwinds.
"TAILWIND" · 총 9건
필터 보기현재 지수
50.3
0 = 부정 우세
50 = 중립
100 = 긍정 우세
최근 7일 기준 87,438건을 분석한 결과, 뉴스 심리지수는 50.2(균형)입니다. 긍정 4,284건(4.9%)·중립 81,014건(92.7%)·부정 2,140건(2.4%)이며, 중립 비중이 뚜렷하게 높습니다. 성향 지수는 종합 14.8(중도 균형)입니다.
An analyst says long-term investors could view the dip as a buying opportunity and flagged several potential tailwinds.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said it was too early for concerns surrounding Anthropic's Mythos to meaningfully impact first-quarter results.
The discount retailer raised its full-year sales and profit guidance but cautioned that tax refund tailwinds masked underlying consumer stress
CrowdStrike shares have rallied nearly 60% this year on skyrocketing demand for cybersecurity in the age of advanced artificial intelligence.
The shares of Vodafone Idea sharply surged nearly 7% to a new 52-week high of Rs 15.09 apiece on the NSE on Wednesday, even as the Sensex and Nifty crashed, as multiple tailwinds boosted investor sentiment for the telecom major.The stock has rallied 46% in one month and a whopping 121% in one year. The company currently has a market capitalisation of more than Rs 1.62 lakh crore.ICRA upgrades Vodafone Idea’s rating, revises outlookRatings agency ICRA upgraded Vodafone Idea’s rating to A- from its earlier BBB rating and revised its outlook on the company’s long-term fund-based loans worth Rs 727 crore to ‘Stable’ from ‘Positive’. ICRA said that the rating upgrade was driven by a change in rating approach for Vodafone Idea to factor in support from promoter Aditya Birla Group, which was further strengthened with the re‑appointment of Kumar Mangalam Birla as the Chairman of the board and with the proposed equity infusion of approximately Rs 4,730 crore through a preferential allotment of warrants to a promoter group entity in May 2026. “These developments reflect strong confidence in Vi’s potential and long-term growth trajectory. The Aditya Birla Group has expressed its continued support to Vodafone Idea to ensure timely debt servicing and to ensure continuity of operations and improvement in its market position. The Aditya Birla Group has been consistent in providing operational and financial support to Vi and will continue to do so going forward. Further, the Group’s brand equity and market position provided Vi with assistance in Government engagement and higher financial flexibility,” it added.ICRA also highlighted the revision of Vodafone Idea’s adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. In May, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) cut Vodafone Idea's AGR dues by 27% to Rs 64,046 crore as of December 31. This revision significantly alleviates the company’s liability burden and enhances cash flow visibility, the ratings agency said, adding that these will provide a push to the telco’s capex plans.Citi removes ‘High Risk’ rating on Vodafone Idea sharesCiti removed its 'High Risk' rating on the stock and raised its target price to Rs 17, implying an upside potential of more than 20% from the previous closing price. In its latest note, Citi Research changed its rating on Vodafone Idea shares to ‘Buy’ from ‘Buy-High Risk’, citing several tailwinds, including the government’s recent reassessment of AGR dues, rating upgrades, equity infusion by the Aditya Birla Group, and other factors into consideration.The brokerage, however, flagged key risks to its bullish view, including delays in bank funding, intensifying competition that could limit future tariff hikes, continued subscriber churn, and slower-than-expected growth in 4G and 5G users.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
Shares of Indian IT companies, including heavyweights Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS and Persistent Systems jumped up to 5% on Monday as multiple tailwinds boosted investor sentiment, pushing the Nifty IT index up around 3% to emerge as the top sectoral gainer.The index rose to 29,905 in the morning trading hours of Monday, extending sharp gains for the second consecutive session. The index has now jumped nearly 4% over two days.The sharp surge in IT stocks comes after a significant decline earlier this year, following the launch of plug-ins for AI startup Anthropic's Claude Cowork agent, which could automate tasks across legal, sales, marketing, and data analysis. "We call it the ‘SaaSpocalypse,’ an apocalypse for software-as-a-service stocks," Bloomberg quoted Jeffrey Favuzza from the equity trading desk at Jefferies as saying.While doomsday prophets continue to debate the future of IT companies following fresh AI advancements, investors were quick to analyse the cheap valuations, leading to some pockets of buying. Nuvama, in its note, had highlighted that the IT sector is setting up for a powerful comeback, not a collapse after the brutal AI-driven selloff.“We see no existential threat from Gen-AI,” the brokerage writes, arguing that enterprises will still need a “system integrator” to customise plug-and-play AI and software tools for their highly complex, brownfield technology stacks and to take ownership when “the system fails at 2 am.”Also read: Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated! Why Nuvama is screaming buy on all top 10 IT stocksThe latest round of buying also comes ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next month, which would be the first under Chair Kevin Warsh. US President Donald Trump had selected Warsh partly on expectations that he would support lower borrowing costs to stimulate economic growth. However, rising inflation raised questions over the possibility of lowering rates.Technical view on Nifty ITThe Nifty IT index has witnessed a strong rebound after taking support near its crucial support zone, indicating the possibility of a short-term recovery in the sector, Kunal Kamble, Senior Technical Research Analyst at Bonanza had said. “On the hourly time frame, the index is currently forming an inverse Head and Shoulders pattern. A decisive breakout is seen above the neckline of this pattern and has triggered further upside momentum in the index. Such a move is likely to positively impact heavyweight IT stocks that share a high correlation with the index, including Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, and HCL Technologies,” he added.Technically, the analyst had suggested that if the index manages to sustain above the 29,650 mark, it may open the door for a further recovery towards the 31,280 zone in the near term. However, he added that the current price action appears to be a retracement within the broader trend rather than a complete trend reversal. Therefore, traders should approach the sector with a cautious outlook.“Aggressive or high-risk traders may consider short-term trading opportunities in select IT counters, provided the index maintains strength above key support levels. On the downside, a breach below 28,800 could once again invite selling pressure across the Nifty IT index and associated IT stocks, potentially weakening the ongoing recovery structure,” he said.IT stocksPersistent Systems shares were the top gainers on the Nifty IT index, jumping nearly 5%. Infosys shares followed, surging nearly 4%. Mphasis, Tech Mahindra, LTI Mindtree and Coforge shares gained over 3% each.Also read: Wockhardt shares rocket 19% after FDA approval for antibiotic targeting drug-resistant infectionsTata Consultancy Services (TCS) and OFSS shares jumped around 2% each, while HCL Technologies and Wipro shares gained around 1% each.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
Refresh cycle sluggishness is a tailwind, insists PC giant's money people
ASK any banker in the country to name the single largest untapped commercial opportunity on their balance sheet, and the honest answer will not include corporates, nor consumers, not even mortgages. It is the roughly five million small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are ostensibly bankable but sit almost entirely outside the formal credit system today. Ask the same banker why these have not been pursued, and the answer becomes more revealing: a mixture of risk language, regulatory caveats and a quiet acknowledgement that the sector is, in some fundamental way, simply too hard to read. That difficulty lies at the heart of the matter, and it deserves to be stated plainly rather than being dressed up in the vocabulary of risk. SMEs generate close to 40 per cent of GDP, 25pc of exports and around 80pc of non-agricultural employment. Yet by December 2025, only 302,922 of them were formally banked. The South Asian average for firms reporting access to a bank loan sits above 31pc; Pakistan’s figure is a dismal 2.1pc. The very conditions that would make an SME bankable are those that it cannot afford to meet — precisely because it is not bankable. The cost of exclusion is concrete. An SME that is locked out of formal credit borrows, if at all, from informal sources at 30pc to 60pc per annum. At those rates, no enterprise modernises machinery, builds working capital cushions, or invests in compliance. The very conditions that would make an SME bankable are those that it cannot afford to meet — precisely because it is not bankable. It is tempting to attribute this to risk aversion in the banking system. But this would be wrong. Pakistani banks are not unusually conservative by global standards — they are unusually starved of information. The median SME operates on cash, holds no audited statements, files no returns, and records sales in ledgers that no credible auditor will certify. A bank cannot underwrite what it cannot see. The problem is not that SME risk is high; it is that SME risk is invisible, making risk-pricing prohibitive, much as is the case with agriculture. This framing matters because it points to the actual solution. The question is not how to make banks braver. It is how to make the borrowers visible. That work has begun, and the early numbers are genuinely encouraging. Outstanding SME financing grew from Rs457 billion at the FY23 trough to Rs882bn by December 2025 — nearly doubling in slightly over two years — with the State Bank targeting Rs1.5 trillion by 2028. The proof of concept sits closer to home than most realise. Punjab’s Asaan Karobar Scheme, launched in January 2025 on a hybrid risk-absorption formula — a first-loss guarantee from the federal government and an interest-rate subsidy from the Punjab government — with digital architecture stitching together CNIC, FBR, credit bureau and bank data, has already disbursed funds to over 110,000 SMEs, half of them from low-income groups, and more than a third of the total industry borrowers. The opportunity is being widened further by the industry’s Islamic conversion. For SMEs, where religious considerations weigh heavily, Sharia-compliant products are not a parallel track; they are a primary channel. But progress must be honest about its constraints. As of 2025, only 38pc of banking assets are deployed in private sector lending, while banks bear an effective tax rate of 54.1pc — the highest in the region, against 30pc or less in India, Malaysia and Vietnam. Until that incentive structure shifts, no amount of regulatory exhortation will redirect capital at scale. Yet the macro tailwinds are real. The policy rate has been cut by more than 1,000 bps from its 22pc peak. Fiscal consolidation has produced a primary surplus of 3pc of GDP. Moody’s, Fitch and S&P have all upgraded Pakistan. This is the most favourable backdrop for priority sector credit in over a decade — and converting it rests on five policy actions. First, formalisation must be reframed not as exposure to punitive taxation but as access to affordable capital. The federal government should announce a time-bound SME documentation roadmap linked to incentives for first-time borrowers. Incremental lending to priority sectors should receive targeted tax incentives: a reduced tax rate on income generated from first-time SME borrowers would materially improve risk-adjusted returns for banks. Second, risk-sharing mechanisms must expand rapidly. Sustained fiscal allocation for first-loss guarantees can crowd in priority sector lending at multiples of public investment. Third, the Financial Data Exchange must be operationalised. Integrating Nadra, tax, banking and payment system data would fundamentally improve credit scoring and underwriting capability. Fourth, the upcoming budget should make adequate provisioning for venture capital and private equity funding through front-loaded government contributions that absorb early losses, and rationalise tax structures on investment vehicles — at a fiscal cost smaller than a single year of circular debt accumulation. Fifth, the Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism must be made effective by ensuring that no stay orders are granted without the full deposit of the disputed amount, so that prolonged litigation cannot be used to delay the matter’s resolution. An estimated 5m enterprises sit on the other side of a documentation barrier that we now have the technology to remove. The window, which was opened by lower rates, fiscal repair, a reforming legal system and digital readiness, will not stay open forever. It must be used, and used immediately. The writer is chairman of the Pakistan Banks’ Association. Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2026
For the second time this year, Eddie Nketia stops the clock in what would be an Australian record for the 100m, but is aided by an illegal tailwind.