KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): TIME dotCom Bhd (KL:TIMECOM) on Thursday said it is upgrading its dividend policy as earnings at the internet service provider surged more than 30% in 2025. The company plans to pay out 50% to 75% of its net profit after adjusting for extraordinary items as dividends to shareholders, according to an exchange filing. The previous dividend policy called for distribution of up to half of its annual earnings. An interim dividend of 17.32 sen per share and a special dividend of 9.73 sen per share were also declared, both payable on March 25. The change in policy comes after TIME reported a jump in net profit to RM428.16 million in 2025 from RM328.16 million a year earlier, thanks to lower impairment of submarine cable and reduced net foreign exchange loss.

PUTRAJAYA (Feb 26): The Migrant Repatriation Programme 2.0 (PRM 2.0), a voluntary amnesty initiative that allows undocumented migrants to return to their home countries without facing prosecution, has generated over RM88 million in revenue as of Feb 23, according to Immigration Director-General Datuk Zakaria Shaaban. Launched on May 19, 2025, and running until April 30, PRM 2.0 has recorded 177,000 registrations, with more than 100,000 illegal immigrants repatriated to their countries of origin. No decision has been made so far,” he told reporters at the Immigration Department’s Semarak Ramadan programme on Thursday. Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail previously announced that the government had approved the extension of PRM 2.0 from May 19, 2025, to April 30, 2026, covering Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territory of Labuan. PRM 2.0 is a voluntary amnesty scheme offering illegal immigrants exemption from prosecution while allowing them to regularise their status through the payment of compounds for certain offences.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): The progress of Google’s US$2 billion (RM7.77 billion) investment in Malaysia is advancing strongly and exceeding initial expectations, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said. “I assured them that the government remains consistent in facilitating and supporting announced investments by the multinational technology corporation,” he said. He added that the discussion focused on the progress of Google’s US$2 billion investment in Malaysia, announced in May 2024. “This investment covers the development and operation of Google’s first data centre and cloud services infrastructure in Malaysia. Once operational, it is expected to generate an economic impact of US$3.2 billion and create 26,500 jobs by 2030,” he said.

BENGALURU (Feb 26): India's markets regulator on Thursday rolled out tougher mutual fund rules, tightening category definitions and capping portfolio overlap to ensure schemes stay "true-to-label" and curb duplication. SEBI has also set strict limits on portfolio overlap, particularly for sectoral and thematic funds, as well as value and contra funds. For thematic equity schemes, SEBI requires that no more than 50% of a scheme's portfolio overlaps with other thematic schemes and other equity categories, except large-cap schemes. It will now be calculated on quarterly basis, using the average of daily portfolio overlap values over the period. Asset managers must also publish monthly category-wise overlap disclosures on their websites — equity vs equity, debt vs debt, and hybrid vs hybrid.

AS of Epidemiological Week Six of 2026, Malaysia has recorded 3,161 cumulative tuberculosis (TB) cases, with 596 new infections reported in the most recent week. These arrangements show that anchoring TB management in primary care strengthens surveillance and reduces treatment interruption without overburdening hospitals. When primary care functions effectively, pressure on inpatient facilities decreases and resources are used more efficiently. The question is whether primary care structures are sufficiently integrated to deploy those tools at the earliest opportunity. In that configuration, hospitals serve their proper purpose as the last line of defence, supported by a vigilant and well-organised primary care front line.

PETALING JAYA (Feb 26): Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd (Kenanga Group) partnered with Stellar Development Foundation to launch the first tokenised money market funds in Malaysia. According to press release, the Stellar blockchain also hosts Franklin Templeton’s Benji token, a tokenised US Treasury money market fund primarily used by institutional users for on-chain settlement and peer-to-peer transfers. The inaugural deployment on the Myrra platform is the tokenisation of the Kenanga Money Market Fund and Kenanga Islamic Money Market Fund managed by Kenanga Investors Bhd (KIB). The two funds represent the first tokenised unit trust funds to go live within the Malaysian market. By tokenising its Malaysian ringgit money market funds, Kenanga Group is bringing money market products directly to a broader segment of Malaysian investors, enabling the purchase or selling of tokens directly on Myrra’s web portal.

The country's largest refined sugar producer posted a net loss of RM397.25 million for FY2025 compared to a net profit of RM31.25 million in FY2024. A global oversupply of refined sugar has led to a domestic surplus, eroding MSM’s market share. It posted a net loss of RM4.6 million in 3QFY2025 and RM29.74 million in 2QFY2025. MSM has an annual production capacity of up to 2.05 million tonnes of refined sugar. In 2024, it produced 1.1 million tonnes, of which 258,932 tonnes were exported.

(Feb 26): Gold prices edged higher on Thursday, boosted by a softer dollar and safe-haven demand amid uncertainty over US tariff policy and US-Iran talks. Spot gold was up 0.4% at US$5,192.28 per ounce, as of 0500 GMT. "Price action reflects a re-pricing of fresh policy (tariff) uncertainty, geopolitical concerns, and a subdued dollar," said Christopher Wong, a strategist at OCBC. "Two-way consolidation is still likely in the interim as markets digest geopolitical (news), dollar moves, tariff surprises, and Fed policy uncertainty." A softer greenback makes dollar-denominated gold cheaper for holders of other currencies.

(Feb 26): The US vowed to maintain high tariffs on China hours after Beijing warned against any future hikes, as Donald Trump’s sweeping levies return to the spotlight before his meeting with Xi Jinping. Beijing reiterated it wants to use the existing consultation mechanism to build consensus. The Supreme Court ruling eliminated Trump’s second-term levies on China and left Beijing facing the same 15% global fee applied to many US allies. The US is currently undertaking an investigation into the trade deal from Trump’s first term, which saw China promise to buy hundreds of billions of dollars more in US exports. “If the US insists on pushing forward with relevant investigations — or even uses the investigation as a pretext to introduce restrictive measures such as tariffs — China will take all necessary measures to resolutely defend its legitimate rights,” the ministry said.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): The opposition bloc on Thursday confirmed that Larut Member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin remains as the opposition leader despite his sacking from Bersatu. “So far his position (as the opposition leader) remains…so there are no changes. We only have two days left of this (Dewan Rakyat) sitting. Hamzah’s status as the opposition leader had come into question following his dismissal from Bersatu amid an internal party conflict. On Tuesday, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said any decision regarding Hamzah’s role and position could only be made after receiving written confirmation from the opposition.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): theedgemalaysia.com highlighted seven stocks with momentum at Bursa Malaysia’s afternoon close on Thursday. Four showed positive momentum, while the remaining three showed negative momentum. The algorithm differentiates between stocks that exhibit positive (+ve) momentum and negative (-ve) momentum. It merely tells you which stocks are seeing higher-than-normal volume and price movements. However, each stock has an accompanying fundamental score and valuation score to help readers evaluate the attractiveness of the stocks if they want to ride the momentum.

It declared a higher dividend of 3.5 sen per share for the quarter, from three sen, payable on March 26. Revenue rose 12.3% year-on-year to RM671.66 million, from RM598.07 million previously, a bourse filing showed. This was largely thanks to the 123.9% rise in its property development segment revenue to RM115.23 million, from its two projects The Vue @ Monterez and Papyrus @ North Kiara. The strong quarterly results lifted its full-year earnings to RM224.68 million or 17.85 sen per share, up 40.21% from RM160.24 million. Revenue rose 22.55% to RM2.25 billion, from RM1.84 billion a year ago.

KUALA LUMPUR: Action is needed to address the wild dog issue in Langkawi, as it could impact the island's tourism, says Datuk Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah (PN-Langkawi). He said this while holding up graphic images of a European tourist who was allegedly attacked by wild dogs in Langkawi during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Feb 26). “There are too many wild dogs not only in Langkawi but throughout Malaysia,” he said. In response, Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Chiew Choon Man said the matter should be raised with the local council authorities in Langkawi. In March last year, a four-year-old boy sustained serious injuries after a pack of dogs in Kampung Dedek attacked him.

KUALA LUMPUR: In a sweet post with photos of them from back in the day and now, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wished his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail a Happy Anniversary. "Happy 46th wedding anniversary to Azizah. "The love of a loyal heart that accompanies us in every joy and sorrow," he said on his official social media platforms on Thursday (Feb 26). Anwar then thanked her for being his constant. "May Allah SWT continue to protect and bless our journey of life," he said.

The yen was last 0.3% stronger against the dollar at 155.87 yen, regaining some lost ground after hitting its weakest levels in two weeks, as comments from Bank of Japan officials steadied the Japanese currency. Recent newsflow has "reinforced the perception that the Takaichi administration favors a dovish stance on monetary policy", Bank of America said in a note. "But we think the underlying fundamentals point towards continued stabilisation in the JGB market and a rebound in the yen." Financial markets continue to believe almost unanimously US interest rates are going nowhere at the Federal Reserve's next meeting. The Australian dollar was steady at US$0.7126, while the New Zealand dollar briefly slipped below the US$0.60 mark against its US counterpart before recovering, last trading flat at US$0.6003.