25/09/2025

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | SEPT 25, 2025

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RBA blasts ASX for trading settlement failures

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee is coming under increased strain with rising dollar demand linked to gold imports coinciding with concerns over the impact of a US visa fee hike, according to bankers. Dollar demand from jewellers has risen nearly three times the normal level in recent days, a banker said. Others noted that the spike reflects heavy gold buying during the ongoing Dusherra festival, traditionally marked by jewellery purchases. Additionally, demand is being driven by stockpiling ahead of Diwali next month, a major festival when gold buying typically peaks across India. The import duty on gold is set fortnightly. Since gold prices have risen since the last revision, the duty is expected to increase next week. To avoid higher duties, jewellers are front-loading imports, a banker said. “Individually, the size of this demand will not sway the market. “However, when you stack it against the US visa fee news and the broader stress (on the rupee), the flows have a bigger impact than they would on their own.” The United States has imposed a US$100,000 fee for new H-1B visas, a move that may slow the deployment of Indian IT workers and weigh on services exports and remittances. “Remittances are an important source of foreign currency receipts for India, equal to US$120 billion or 3.4% of GDP,” Capital Economics said in a note, adding that a quarter of these remittances originate in the U.S. The rupee had already been under pressure before the visa fee increase, weighed down by US tariffs on Indian goods and subdued portfolio inflows. The rupee hit a record low of 88.7975 to the dollar on Tuesday and was set to fall further yesterday before the central bank intervened to provide support. – Reuters Rupee pinned near record low China not seeking special treatment in WTO pacts NEW YORK: China will not be seeking new special and differential treatment – a privilege granted to developing countries – in current and future World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday. Xinhua cited Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s remarks at a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Li noted that the world’s second biggest economy was behaving as “a responsible major developing country”. WTO agreements contain provisions allowing developing countries special rights, and for other members to treat them more favourably. Such treatment includes longer timeframes for implementing commitments and measures to boost trading opportunities for these countries. But some wealthy nations have in the past said that China should no longer be classified as a developing country, which is something that nations decide for themselves. Washington has previously argued that China should relinquish the treatment given to developing countries. On Tuesday, WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala wrote on social media that according to Li, “China will no longer have access to Special and Differential Treatment in new WTO Agreements”. – AFP

The ASX handled an average of 2.56 million equity trades over 21 trading days in August, according to Reuters calculations based on exchange data. The average daily cash market trading value in the ASX’s past financial year was A$6.1 billion (RM17 billion), the company’s full-year results showed. ASX shares were 0.8% lower when the RBA’s statement was published and fell further afterward, ending the day down 1.17%. The overall S&P/ASX200 declined 0.9%. The ASX came under fire in December after deferring a day’s worth of trading settlements following a breakdown in its Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS). “We are acutely aware ASX must accelerate our progress to rebuild trust with our regulators, particularly following the disappointing incidents of the past year,” ASX chief executive Helen

Lofthouse said in a statement. Lofthouse added ASX is focused on contingency arrangements for CHESS and has completed some code fixes and memory increases to improve its resiliency. In June, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission appointed an expert panel to investigate ASX’s governance and risk management practices that is due to deliver its findings by March. The aging all-in-one CHESS system usually settles a trade two business days after a buyer and seller agree to the trade by arranging for money transfers. Along with settlements, CHESS electronically registers the ownership of shares on its subregister. ASX had been looking to replace the CHESS software using blockchain-based technology, but abandoned the overhaul in November 2022, six years after announcing it, citing concerns about the product’s complexity and scalability. – Reuters

o Central bank criticises Australian Securities Exchange’s governance, culture and risk management

SYDNEY: The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) must make “foundational changes” to its governance, culture and risk management after last year’s trading settlement failure, the central bank said yesterday. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) also warned ASX’s clearing and settlement units still fall short of key regulatory standards and pledged to monitor progress closely. The central bank, which has oversight of the clearing and settlement systems, said in a statement following its investigation into the settlement failures it would consider further regulatory responses if ASX did not improve. The RBA’s criticism underscores BEIJING: announced yesterday a“milestone collaboration” in AI tech with US chip giant Nvidia that the Chinese company said will accelerate its development of humanoid robots. The news came as Alibaba’s shares soared more than 9% in Hong Kong after chief executive Eddie Wu unveiled plans to further ramp up spending on artificial intelligence. China and the United States are locked in a fierce tech battle, with the California-based AI chip leader Nvidia wound up in their race for supremacy in advanced semiconductors. Washington restricts Nvidia from exporting its most advanced products – a crucial component in the generative AI revolution – to China. Alibaba, which runs some of China’s biggest online shopping platforms, said it was teaming up with the firm in the field of physical AI. The Chinese company said its cloud division is integrating “the full suite of the Nvidia physical AI software stack, marking a milestone collaboration” in the domain. “The initiative provides developers with a comprehensive, cloud-native platform to accelerate advancements in humanoid robotics and physical AI solutions,” a statement said. Alibaba made the announcement in Hangzhou at a subforum of its annual developers’ conference, where panellists included executives from Nvidia and Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. Alibaba said in February it would spend at least 380 billion yuan (RM223 billion) on artificial intelligence and cloud computing over the next three years. The firm’s share price soared yesterday after comments made by Wu at the event in Hangzhou. “We are actively proceeding with the 380 billion yuan investment in AI infrastructure, and plan to add Alibaba

the growing regulatory pressure on ASX, by far Australia’s biggest equity market operator, to ensure the stability of essential financial systems. “ASX is not currently meeting the regulators’ expectations for an operator of critical national infrastructure,” said RBA assistant governor (financial system) Brad Jones. “Resilient and secure clearing and settlement facilities are crucial to the stability of the Australian financial system.” ASX needed to improve its risk transformation plan and conduct a review of its business continuity and contingency arrangements in its clearing and settlement division, the RBA said.

Alibaba teams up with Nvidia on AI robot tech

A person standing near a giant figure with a big belly at an exhibition on abdominal obesity among the Chinese population, jointly organised by Innovent Biologics, Alibaba Health and Tmall Juhuasuan, in Shanghai. – REUTERSPIC

more,” he said. Energy consumed by Alibaba Cloud’s global data centres will increase by tenfold by 2032, compared with when generative AI chatbots arrived on the scene in 2022, Wu added. China announced plans in March for a trillion-yuan to support tech

suppliers instead. Last week, chief executive Jensen Huang said he was disappointed by a report that Beijing had barred major Chinese tech firms from buying his company’s RTX Pro 6000D chips – state-of-the-art processors made especially for the country. – AFP Nvidia’s

startups, including those in robotics and AI. The country is already the world’s largest market for industrial robots, official statistics show. Beijing has expressed national security concerns about Nvidia chips, urging Chinese businesses to rely on local semiconductor