Spot gold was last at $4,650/oz, up 14% in August, about 7% year-to-date and around 7% last week, after briefly touching $4,700/oz. The rally has been supported by falling U.S. Treasury yields and a softer dollar as investors focus on inflation risks and concerns about dollar debasement with U.S. government debt above $40 trillion and the fiscal deficit still high. Markets are watching the Jackson Hole symposium from August 27–29, with particular attention on Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s speech on Friday.

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd posted a net profit of RM139.12mil in the second quarter ended June 30, 2026 (2QFY26), as compared to RM126.69mil in the year-ago quarter, underpinned by improved revenue of RM1.36bil against RM1.28bil in the previous quarter.

ASX Limited has released details of its FY26 final dividend of 104.7 cents per share, payable on 21 September 2026. The company said 31.06% of shareholders elected to participate in the dividend reinvestment plan, representing $63.56 million of the $204.6 million total dividend. New DRP shares will be issued at a 2.5% discount to the nine-day average market price. Barrenjoey Markets Pty Limited will underwrite 18.94% of the dividend, lifting overall DRP coverage to 50%.

ZRO rose 4.73% as ATLAS set out an institutional-market backend and a conditional fee path to ZRO buy-and-burn.

BMT gained 66.09% in 24 hours as USD 92.71 million turnover reached 5.07x market cap; the daily chart tests 0.02472 confirmation.

Jack Ma has recently bought more than HK$600 million of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. stock. Chairman Joe Tsai and Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu also increased their holdings, together purchasing at least $25 million worth of shares. The buying followed Alibaba’s HK$80 billion share placement in Hong Kong and its pledge to spend more than 380 billion yuan over three years on AI, spanning chips, data centers and large language model development.

MCX gold October futures rose 0.16% to ₹1,63,146 per 10 grams, while MCX silver September futures gained 0.64% to ₹2,45,700 per kg. Brent crude futures slid 3% to trade near $86 per barrel, keeping the US dollar index below 99 on expectations the Strait of Hormuz could reopen after Iran said it had resumed talks with neighbouring Oman on managing the waterway. Investors are watching the US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index for July, due at 1230 GMT, and a speech by Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh at the annual Jackson Hole symposium on Friday.

Australia’s September inflation data showed headline CPI eased from 3.8% to 3.5%, but the RBA-watched trimmed mean inflation held at 3.6%, above the 2%-3% target band. Housing and food prices were the main contributors. The Reserve Bank of Australia kept the cash rate unchanged at 4.35% this month, but Governor Michele Bullock said another hike later this year remains possible.