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Asia-Pacific
Channel NewsAsia

Melaka state election: Anwar's PH, Muhyiddin's Bersatu avoid clashes in 4 seats as candidates confirmed

Analysts say Melaka could serve as a testing ground to see whether Bersatu can help Pakatan Harapan win over Malay voters ahead of Malaysia's next general election. Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim (left) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president Muhyiddin Yassin. (Photos: Facebook/Anwar Ibrahim, Muhyiddin Yassin) Aqil Haziq Mahmud 31 Oct 2026 02:47PM Bookmark Bookmark Share WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Set CNA as your preferred source on Google Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. Read a summary of this article on FAST. Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST KUALA LUMPUR: The campaign for the 16th Melaka state election officially began on Saturday (Oct 31) with all 28 seats to be contested, the Election Commission announced after candidates were confirmed on nomination day. The line-up for the Nov 14 election offers clues about potential political alliances, notably with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition and former premier Muhyiddin Yassin’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) avoiding direct contests in four seats. Analysts told CNA the nominations show PH and Bersatu are informally cooperating, although some internal pushback from at least one component party means they have not explicitly admitted it. Future cooperation depends on whether Bersatu can help PH win some of the Malay votes in Melaka and stem the “Malay tsunami”, the analysts said, referring to how the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) partnership has swept to resounding victories in recent state elections. CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less This comes as BN is widely expected to retain control of Melaka after successful campaigns alongside the opposition coalition PN in Johor and Negeri Sembilan, as the coalitions continue to test their alliance ahead of the 16th General Election, due by February 2028. A total of 79 candidates are vying for the 28 seats in Melaka – which will see straight fights in 11 constituencies, 11 three-cornered contests, and six four-cornered contests. PH will contest in 24 seats, while Bersatu has fielded candidates in seven seats. BN, Anwar’s partner in the federal unity government, will contest 23 seats in a partnership with PN, which will contest the remaining five seats. BN component party the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) had threatened to derail the alliance after it said it was unsatisfied with the number of seats it was allocated following initial negotiations. This dispute appeared to have been resolved following eleventh-hour talks between the two coalitions, when MCA was eventually given two more seats – Bandar Hilir and Kota Laksamana – to contest.

Melaka state election: Anwar's PH, Muhyiddin's Bersatu avoid clashes in 4 seats as candidates confirmed
Europe
The Guardian

Chinese markets lose trillions as race for AI supremacy with US takes its toll

Beijing has doubled down on robotics – also known as embodied AI – as the key to rolling out the technology across society. Photograph: China News Service/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenBeijing has doubled down on robotics – also known as embodied AI – as the key to rolling out the technology across society. Photograph: China News Service/Getty ImagesChinaChinese markets lose trillions as race for AI supremacy with US takes its tollLack of profits and the threat posed by western countries are raising concern about the sustainability of Beijing’s AI boom Trillions of dollars have been wiped from China’s stock markets in recent months amid increasing anxiety about the future of artificial intelligence, as Beijing races against the United States for dominance in the sector. The STAR 50 Index, which tracks technology and innovation companies on the Shanghai stock exchange, has plunged 40% since June. Other indexes of major companies dropped by about 20% over the same time period. The precipitous drop has wiped out $2.4tn from the Chinese stock market since May, according to Bloomberg. AI stocks account for over 40% of the stock market value in China and Hong Kong, according to Goldman Sachs, meaning that any dent in value will send shockwaves across the whole domestic market. The Chinese government has invested heavily into AI, including a 60bn yuan state-backed AI investment fund which started pumping money into domestic developers this month. But Chinese consumers have proved stubbornly reluctant to part with their cash in many parts of the economy – including technology – meaning that many tech companies struggle to turn a profit. The lack of profits is one of several reasons for the sell-off. Another is the threat of western countries, especially the US, extending bans on Chinese technology. “This year, the profit margin is not as good as expected. And the US is raising rates. And China’s domestic demand is so weak,” said Dan Wang, the China director for the Eurasia Group. She said that there was a “general anxiety” among technology companies about whether or not the state-backed model would work in the face of weak consumer demand. The US has banned humanoid robots from China, citing national security risks, and is thought to be considering a ban on Chinese components in data centres. China is heavily reliant on exports and restrictions in the US hurt its domestic companies, which struggle to sell enough products at home. As China races with the US to pull ahead in AI, Beijing has doubled down on robotics – also known as embodied AI – as the key to rolling out the technology across society. Robotics is also seen as the answer to China’s demographic problems, such as the ageing population and the shrinking workforce. But the demand for robotics is being driven by government agencies and research institutions, rather than everyday consumers, for whom the products are still too expensive and not yet practical for home use. Humanoid robotics and robotic dogs have been popular in the entertainment industry but are yet to be useful in home settings. Shares in Unitree, China’s leading robot-maker, have halved since they started trading in August.

Chinese markets lose trillions as race for AI supremacy with US takes its toll
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

Bitcoin traders expect swings on US$11 billion options expiry

The contracts expiring Oct 30 account for roughly a third of all outstanding Bitcoin options on the trading platform Deribit. Bitcoin traders are bracing for potentially sharper price swings as US$11 billion (S$14.09 billion) of options expire this week, just days before US midterm elections that could add further uncertainty to crypto markets. The contracts expiring Oct 30 account for roughly a third of all outstanding Bitcoin options on the trading platform Deribit. Options give holders the right to buy or sell Bitcoin at a set price. The largest cryptocurrency has been under pressure after falling below US$80,000 on Oct 26, a level it has hovered around this week. It fell as much as 2% on Oct 29 and was trading around US$79,900 as of 8.30am in London. Many of the expiring contracts are bets on prices that look unreachable in the near term. Options to buy Bitcoin outnumber those to sell it, with large concentrations at the US$90,000, US$95,000 and US$100,000 levels. The more uncertain risk is for holders of contracts tied to prices closer to where Bitcoin is trading today. As the cryptocurrency moves, dealers need to buy or sell to offset their exposure. About 70% of the expiring options’ gamma – a measure of how sensitive dealers’ hedging needs are to Bitcoin price moves – is concentrated between US$75,000 and US$82,000, according to Adam Haeems, head of asset management at Tesseract Group. Below the US$80,000 strike price, options to sell Bitcoin outnumber those to buy it by more than two to one. Public data does not reveal which side of those trades dealers hold, Haeems said. If dealers are short, their hedging could accelerate a fall through the range of US$75,000 to US$78,000, he said, while long traders could help cushion the decline. Greater volatility could come after Oct 30. Investors who sell options against their Bitcoin holdings typically sell a new batch as the old ones expire.

Bitcoin traders expect swings on US$11 billion options expiry
Europe
BBC Business

Healey pledges cheaper marmalade and gherkins in pre-Budget package of 'everyday fixes'

Image source, Getty ImagesByArchie MitchellBusiness reporterPublished26 October 2026Updated 1 hour agoJohn Healey will remove import taxes on marmalade, gherkins and more than 100 products in a move to give families "breathing space" with the cost of living in the Budget. On Wednesday the chancellor will promise a fresh series of "everyday fixes" to ease the pressure on households. The measures will also include an end to the so-called cliff-edge for those receiving carer's allowance payments and higher tax-free mileage rates being made permanent. But the Conservatives said the offer of "cheaper gherkins" was "an insult to families hammered by Labour's tax rises". Ahead of the Budget, the government said it is removing tariffs on more than 100 "family favourite" products, while supporting farmers facing higher fertiliser costs and households reliant on heating oil. It says the changes could save households up to £21 per year when combined with existing tariff suspensions on products including pasta, fruit juice and tuna. Marmalade, for example, will see a 20% tariff, plus an additional £19 charge per 100kg imported, suspended. Healey said that the ongoing wars in Iran and Ukraine had "hit families here at home through higher everyday costs". "We can't control global events, but we can act where we can make a difference," he added. The government will also freeze fuel duty again in the Budget, the BBC understands. As first reported in The Sun, the 5p duty discount is also set to continue. That discount was first introduced in 2022, and was due to last 12 months, but has been extended ever since. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: "We are taking on the big challenges facing the country. But that doesn't mean losing sight of the everyday problems that cost people money or simply aren't fair.

Healey pledges cheaper marmalade and gherkins in pre-Budget package of 'everyday fixes'
North America
Yahoo Finance

China’s Stock Market Is Trailing the U.S. by the Widest Margin in History

The gap between U.S. and Chinese stocks just broke a record stretching back decades, and Beijing's state-backed funds are still sitting on their hands while blue-chip shares slide into bear market territory. When trading ended on Thursday, October 22, the S&P 500 closed at 2.095 times the Shanghai Composite. By our calculation from daily closes, that is the highest ratio in the data going back to 1997, exceeding the 2.088 record set on September 19, 2024. The S&P 500’s ratio to Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also closed at a record 0.334, in data back to 1990. Both ratios fell Friday to 2.066 and 0.330 as Shanghai rallied. Even so, the gap hit the widest margin on record during the week ended October 23. Investors must judge whether China is a value trap. It could be a market that looks cheap but keeps falling, or a deep discount that Beijing’s state funds have only started to buy. Through October 23, the S&P 500 has gained 11.4% in 2026. Over the same stretch, the Shanghai Composite fell 7.0%, and the Hang Seng fell 9.9%. By our calculation, the S&P 500 is ahead of Shanghai by about 18 percentage points and ahead of MCHI by about 30 points, since MCHI is down 18.4%. The record shows up in the cumulative ratio, which captures years of difference, rather than in any single year. The CSI 300, China’s blue-chip index, fell 1.8% to 4,036.30, its lowest close since July 2025. It entered a bear market Thursday, finishing 20.2% below its June 22 closing peak. The Shanghai Composite dropped 1.5% to its lowest level in more than a year, and the Hang Seng Tech index hit a two-year low. Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA | BABA Price Prediction) fell more than 6% and Tencent fell 2.9%. Investors doubted that AI growth and valuations could last. They were let down by Beijing’s incremental stimulus and pulled back after Beijing moved to tax offshore trusts held by shareholders of Hong Kong-listed Chinese companies. “The market is in the dump,” said Hao Hong, CIO at Lotus Asset Management. He added that the National Team, the state-backed funds that buy shares to steady prices, “has been rather hesitant to make a move.” On Friday, heavy trading in ETFs preferred by state-backed investors lifted the CSI 300 1.7% and the Shanghai Composite 0.9%. The CSI 300 still lost 1.6% for the week. That was its 11th straight weekly decline, the longest losing streak since the index was created in 2005, and it ended about 19% below its June peak. Morgan Stanley analysts spoke. They said, “weak domestic demand and liquidity headwinds persist, while valuations have yet to reach an outright bottom.” The S&P 500 dropped 0.52% Friday, which means the record gap came from China falling while U.S. stocks also dropped. The KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (NYSEARCA:KWEB) fell 0.30% Friday to $23.14 and lost about 5.2% for the week. It is down 32.0% in 2026, and its one-year total return is -37.79%, because a fund made up only of internet stocks takes the most damage when AI and tech valuations are the worry.

China’s Stock Market Is Trailing the U.S. by the Widest Margin in History
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

No way to tell if S’pore investors affected by Binance hack; withdrawals temporarily suspended

SINGAPORE - There is no way to determine whether any Singapore-based funds or investors were affected by a multibillion-dollar hack on cryptocurrency exchange Binance, or how much may have been stolen from them. However, withdrawals from the exchange will remain suspended until a security overhaul is completed, The Straits Times has learnt. User funds remain safe and deposits unaffected. In response to queries by ST on Oct 30, Ari Redbord, head of global policy at blockchain investigation firm TRM Labs, said the funds involved were held in centralised hot wallets, meaning they cannot be traced to individual investors or jurisdictions based on blockchain data alone. Centralised hot wallets are Internet-connected digital wallets managed by cryptocurrency exchanges to hold and transfer funds on behalf of customers. As funds belonging to different customers may be pooled together, blockchain data alone cannot identify which investors or countries the funds are linked to. But crypto exchanges themselves may have records that could help identify the affected customers. “Hot wallets are not untraceable, rather they operate like bank vaults...If someone robbed a bank and took money from the vault, you would say the bank was robbed,” said Redboard. When contacted, Binance told ST that deposits are unaffected, but withdrawals will remain paused while it “completes a security revamp of the withdrawal service and its related addresses”. The cryptocurrency platform said on Oct 29 that it had been hit by a hack involving around US$6.3 billion (S$8.05 billion) in funds, about half of which had been frozen to prevent further losses. When asked whether any Singapore-based funds or investors were affected, Binance said it was “continuing to actively investigate” and, “as a matter of policy”, does not comment on individual funds or investors. But it added that user funds were safe and that it would publish an updated proof of reserves once remedial measures were completed. The hack on Oct 29 was more than four times the US$1.5 billion stolen from cryptocurrency exchange Bybit in February 2025, which was then the largest cryptocurrency heist on record. The Bybit attack was attributed to TraderTraitor, a hacking group linked to North Korea.

No way to tell if S’pore investors affected by Binance hack; withdrawals temporarily suspended
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

Bank of Japan declares victory in hitting price target, signals near-term hikes

BOJ’s governor Kazuo Ueda says it will debate rates at each meeting, mindful that its policy has entered the new phase focused on inflation risks. TOKYO – The Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept interest rates steady on Oct 30, but declared victory in a nearly 14-year battle to hit its price target and signalled vigilance against inflation risks, suggesting the next rate hike could be as soon as December. With underlying inflation having roughly hit the BOJ’s 2% target, the central bank must focus on anchoring it around that level, it said, suggesting that its policy has entered a new, more hawkish phase open to hiking rates once every few months. While refraining from pre-committing to a set pace of rate hikes, governor Kazuo Ueda said the BOJ will debate rates at each meeting – including the next one in December – mindful that its policy has entered the new phase focused on inflation risks. “It’s important to anchor underlying inflation around our target. That doesn’t mean we will just sit and wait. We will adjust monetary policy as appropriate so that underlying inflation becomes anchored around 2%,” he told a news briefing. The broad shift in outlook aligns the BOJ with its US and European counterparts eyeing near-term rate hikes to battle inflationary risks from the AI boom and the Iran war-induced energy shock. At the two-day meeting ending, the BOJ maintained its policy rate at 1.25% in a widely expected move, forgoing back-to-back hikes to spend more time scrutinising the effects of past rate hikes on lending conditions. Hawkish board member Hajime Takata dissented to the decision to hold rates, instead proposing unsuccessfully a hike to 1.5%. In a surprise move that marks a further shift away from ultra-loose policy, the BOJ said it would accelerate its sales of exchange-traded funds from January to 860 billion yen (S$7 billion) per year from 330 billion yen currently. “We saw the need to scrutinise a bit more economic and price risks, as well as financial conditions,” Ueda said, when asked why the BOJ decided to keep rates steady. “But underlying inflation has reached levels consistent with our price target. Financial conditions remain accommodative. There are various upside risks. We must therefore be vigilant to the risk of inflation overshooting our target,” he said, keeping alive expectations of a December hike. In a quarterly outlook report, the BOJ revised up its core consumer inflation forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2028 to 2.6% from 2.4% projected three months ago. It upgraded its estimate for so-called “core core” inflation, which strips away the effect of fuel costs, for the next two fiscal years.

Bank of Japan declares victory in hitting price target, signals near-term hikes
North America
Yahoo Finance

Two-Thirds of S&P 500 Stocks Rose on Thursday, but the Index Still Fell — Exposing the Risk Hiding in Your Portfolio

On a day when most S&P 500 stocks climbed, the index still fell, and the reason reveals a hidden risk that index fund investors rarely see coming until a handful of mega-caps decide their fate. On Thursday, October 22, 2026, 337 S&P 500 stocks finished higher. Only 159 declined and 1 was unchanged across 497 tracked constituents. The index still closed lower. Most stocks rose and the benchmark fell, and that mismatch is a risk many retirement portfolios carry without the owners knowing it. The S&P 500 is weighted by market value, so the biggest stocks have undue influence on the index’s direction. Many investors use an index fund for broad market exposure, and those portfolios tilt heavily toward technology. One major S&P 500 index fund held 519 positions as of June 30, 2026, but Information Technology made up 38.0% of net assets and Communication Services added another 9.7%. Thursday’s trigger was Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), a $1.42 trillion company. Its third-quarter GAAP diluted EPS of $3.83 fell short of the $5.70 consensus by 32.79%. A $9.89 billion charge tied to an August 2026 settlement with 52 state attorneys general over teen mental health litigation weighed on the result. Without the charge, EPS would have been $7.40. Revenue of $64.60 billion rose 26.1% and beat estimates, but total costs climbed 68% to $51.61 billion. Operating margin narrowed to 20% from 40%. Meta’s shares fell 6.98% on Thursday, from a prior close of $697.52 to $648.85. They lost another 0.96% on Friday to close at $642.62, which leaves the stock down 13.64% over one month. Market nerves rose too: the VIX climbed to 19.03 on October 22, up 2.35 points from the prior day (+14.1%). The benchmark S&P 500 ETF fell another 0.52% on October 23. Weakness at the top goes beyond Meta. Over the past month, NVIDIA is down 6.45%, and Alphabet is down 5.22%, while the S&P 500 benchmark ETF slipped 1.02%. Put simply, buying the S&P 500 is fine during a tech rally, but a tech selloff passes straight through to the portfolio. Riding a mega-cap rally works if you plan the exit; we put both halves, the ride and the exit, in a free bubble survivor’s handbook. Meta’s own numbers point to more pressure. Q3 was its second straight EPS miss, following a 14.42% shortfall in Q2. Full-year 2026 expense guidance went up to $175.00 billion to $179.00 billion, and 2026 capital spending is set at $135.00 billion to $145.00 billion. Third-quarter free cash flow came in at negative $2.1 billion. The chief executive himself highlighted the cost of Meta’s new AI model: “In the near term, Muse is very compute intensive to run.” More youth-related litigation trials are on the calendar. Past results also lean bearish: Meta’s earnings misses have averaged a -13.16% move on the day of the report, compared with 1.26% for beats. The 337 count tells investors how much of their S&P 500 exposure depends on a handful of companies. Meta’s next test is its fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $73.00 billion to $76.00 billion, along with additional youth-related litigation trials scheduled in coming months. Until leadership broadens, the index will keep following its largest members. When most of your stocks can rise on a day your index falls, a handful of mega-caps is setting your returns. After two decades of patrolling the dark corners of suburbia as a police officer, Rich Duprey hung up his badge and gun to begin writing full time about stocks and investing. For the past 20 years, he’s been cruising the markets looking for companies to lock up as long-term holdings in a portfolio while writing extensively on the broad sectors of consumer goods, technology, and industrials. Because his experience isn’t from the typical financial analyst track, Rich is able to break down complex topics into understandable and useful action points for the average investor. His writings have appeared on The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, Yahoo! Finance, Money Morning, and, of course, 24/7 Wall St. He has been featured in both U.S. and international publications, including MarketWatch, Financial Times, Forbes, Fast Company, and USA Today.

Two-Thirds of S&P 500 Stocks Rose on Thursday, but the Index Still Fell — Exposing the Risk Hiding in Your Portfolio
North America
CNBC Finance

Why popular airplanes are getting scrapped years early

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — An Airbus A320neo, one of the world's most popular planes, rolled off the Mobile, Alabama, factory line in July 2022, painted bright yellow for its next destination: Spirit Airlines. It was built to fly for decades. But this May, less than four years later, it was stripped for parts worth millions and crushed, the steel teeth of an excavator tearing through its fuselage at a facility on the outskirts of Phoenix. More aircraft are getting dismantled years, if not decades, earlier than expected, industry executives told CNBC. It is the result of a shortage of parts, none more precious and expensive than aircraft engines, that has exasperated airlines and driven up costs for years. Even after the engines are removed, firms are looking for parts as varied as landing gear and antennae to sell. "It's the first time in my career that involved purchasing an aircraft that's less than five years since date of manufacture," said Bill Thompson, vice president who leads aircraft and engine acquisition for the Americas at aviation asset management and trading firm EirTrade Aviation, which bought the less than 4-year-old Airbus A320neo earlier this year. He said the company paid "single-digit" millions each for that airplane and a similarly aged one, and it expects to make a profit from selling the more than 1,000 parts it took off them before they were crushed. "I don't know if you're going to sell the coffee makers but you never know. Sometimes you do," he said. Twenty-one newest-generation aircraft were torn down from June 2025 through this past August, according to aviation data and advisory firm IBA Group. The scrapped planes were 6.4 years old on average, and included mostly Airbus but also some Boeing planes. That compares with an average retirement age for narrow-body airplanes of 21.7 years, IBA said. "Anytime that you end up with any period of market softness in aircraft availability, engine availability, it's going to cause investors to look at other options," said Simon Goodson, CEO of AerFin, a company that buys, sells, repairs and leases aircraft and parts. "We always say to our aircraft and engine traders, 'Please don't fall in love with the metal.'" Hundreds of aircraft are retired each year as manufacturers ramp up production for airlines, so older planes are swapped out for newer, more fuel-efficient models. But aside from retiring aging planes, some owners don't want to wait around for replacement parts or repairs on younger jets. "A year might not sound that long, but does three or four years?" said Dave Querio, CEO of Ascent Aviation Services, a company that repairs, modifies, stores and disassembles aircraft, based in Marana, Arizona, outside of Tucson. "That's the issue for the aircraft that came in in '23, '24 and '25."

Why popular airplanes are getting scrapped years early