The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.

0356 GMT - Malaysian banks likely have sufficient tools and capacity to mitigate pressures on asset quality from rising funding costs, Affin Hwang IB analyst Chin Jin Han says in a note. Banks are expected to step up efforts to strengthen asset quality and recoveries while leveraging fee income to support revenue as net interest income remains modest, he says. Banks may focus on building low-cost customer deposits and strengthening their retail customer base. While lending-deposit spreads remain healthy, intense competition in wholesale funding could weigh on net interest margins in near term, he adds. However, current liquidity coverage ratios should provide sufficient flexibility to manage funding and NIM pressures. Affin maintains an overweight rating on the banking sector, and pegs AMMB and Public Bank as its top picks. (yingxian.wong@wsj.com)

0242 GMT - JGBs fall in price terms in morning Tokyo trading after hawkish BOJ policy board member Hajime Takata called for flexible rate hikes. In a speech to business leaders in Hokkaido, Takata said this year represents a "regime change," in which rate hikes aren't carried out at a fixed pace, but instead will be "conducted in a nimble and data-dependent manner in response to the domestic price and economic environment, particularly reflecting overseas trends." Takata, perceived as one of the BOJ board's most hawkish members, proposed raising the benchmark rate to 1.25% at the July meeting. Ten-year JGB yield rises 2 bps to 3.010% after earlier touching 3.015%, highest intraday level since Sept. 1996. (ronnie.harui@wsj.com)

0239 GMT - REA Group's recent share-price rally costs the Australian real-estate advertiser its bull at Citi. Lowering his recommendation on the stock to neutral from buy, analyst Siraj Ahmed says listing volumes are holding up better than expected against a challenging backdrop, but sees growing risks from the increased likelihood of at least one more central bank interest-rate rise. The News Corp-controlled company has flexibility to offset volume headwinds with cost control, but Ahmed's fiscal 2027 net profit forecast sits 2% below consensus. Risk-reward is less than compelling after the stock rallied 30% from recent lows, he adds. Citi raises its target price by 4.4% to 191.30 Australian dollars. Shares are down 2.0% at A$166.38. News Corp is the parent company of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0236 GMT - Keppel DC REIT's Japan data-center deal could boost its distribution per unit in 2027-2028, given the assets' strong occupancy and rent escalations built into tenant contracts, says Morningstar's Xavier Lee in a note. The deal is likely to offer DPU accretion of 2.6% to the Singapore real-estate investment trust, management said. The assets are likely to reduce the REIT's tenant concentration, with the trust's largest tenant contribution to fall to 38%, from 44% as of end-June, he adds. He raises his 2027-2028 DPU projections by 2.2%-2.8% but leaves 2026's largely unchanged as the deal is likely to only close in 4Q. Morningstar raises its fair-value estimate by 3% to 2.60 Singapore dollars. Units drop 1.8% to S$2.16. (megan.cheah@wsj.com)

0234 GMT - AI-driven changes in memory architecture could create new growth opportunities for Taiwanese memory suppliers AP Memory and Macronix, Morgan Stanley says. The bank expects 3-D stacking to emerge as the next major memory architecture beyond today's 2.5-D HBM designs, increasing the importance of technologies such as hybrid bonding and wafer-on-wafer integration. Meanwhile, NAND flash is taking on a larger role in AI systems, supporting tasks such as model storage and inference processing rather than serving only as storage. That trend is expected to boost demand for higher-performance NAND products, according to Morgan Stanley. (jie.yang@wsj.com)

0229 GMT - CSL's bulls at UBS don't think the Australia-based pharmaceutical company will experience much of a direct financial impact from its U.S. pricing agreements. CSL has agreed to give Medicaid access to medicines at prices comparable to those in other developed economies, but the investment bank's analysts point out that the state-based program accounts for a relatively small part of its U.S. sales. On top of that, they don't see obligations around the pricing of future drug launches as onerous, given that CSL will be in control of settings and able to manage the impact in its best interests. UBS has a last-published buy rating on the stock and a target price of 181.00 Australian dollars. Shares are up 0.5% at A$173.12. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0228 GMT - Iron ore is lower in early Asian trading. Expectations of strong supply in 2H are putting pressure on the black metal, according to Nanhua Futures analysts in a research note. They also note that global iron ore shipments rose sequentially in the last week of August. The most-traded iron-ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange is down 0.4% at CNY719.0 a ton. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)

0224 GMT - GrainCorp's bull at Macquarie sees conditions improving after a challenging couple of years for the Australian grain marketer and exporter. A note from one of the investment bank's analysts says that the margin environment has lifted over the past six months, with tensions in the Black Sea region supporting global wheat prices. Against this backdrop, Australia's east coast is expected to deliver another above-average crop from the winter harvest. Macquarie forecasts volumes 13% above the 10-year average. There is one note of caution, however. The analyst tells clients that the impact of El Nino conditions remains a key unknown. Macquarie keeps an outperform rating on the stock and raises its target price by 16% to 7.10 Australian dollars. Shares are up 6.8% at A$6.745. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0220 GMT - Collins Foods keeps its bull at Morgans following a positive trading update. Maintaining a buy rating on the stock, analyst Keeley Walsh tells clients in a note that the Australian fast-food franchiser showed domestic resilience over the first 17 weeks of its 2027 fiscal year. On top of this, she points out that European same-store sales appear to have passed an inflection point following a weak start to the fiscal year. Walsh calls clients' attention to 3.1% growth in the Netherlands over the past four weeks, compared with a 7.8% decline in the first eight weeks of the period. A new Halal-certified range supported sales, she says. Morgans keeps its target price on the stock at 10.60 Australian dollars. Shares are up 1.1% at A$8.42. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0213 GMT - Artificial-intelligence infrastructure spending is set to remain resilient as enterprises expand deployments beyond pilot projects, according to Forrester Research analyst Naveen Chhabra, after Dell reported record AI server orders, revenue and backlog. Dell's higher full-year guidance indicates customers are committing capital to AI infrastructure despite economic uncertainty, Chhabra says. He adds that enterprise AI investment is increasingly driving broader infrastructure upgrades, including networking, storage, security, observability and end-user computing. While the results underscore strong demand for AI-related systems, Chhabra warns that the gap between companies' AI aspirations and actual achievements continues to widen. (jie.yang@wsj.com)

0208 GMT - The Delhi High Court's appointment of a forensic auditor to trace alleged asset dissipation linked to former Fortis promoters Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh is likely to have minimal impact on IHH Healthcare, says CIMB Securities analyst Chun Sung Oong in a note. However, the development could prolong legal proceedings and delay IHH's mandatory takeover offer for an additional 26% of Fortis Healthcare, he says. Fortis shareholders acceptance is also likely to remain limited as Fortis is trading well above the original INR170/share offer price, he reckons. IHH could explore alternative routes to raise its effective Fortis stake, including a potential share swap involving Gleneagles India, he says. CIMB has a buy rating and 10.30 ringgit target price on IHGH, which is down 0.5% at 8.11 ringgit. (yingxian.wong@wsj.com)

0147 GMT - Elevated oil prices, with a 1H 2027 forecast of $80/bbl, should support Petronas' earnings and potentially lift domestic offshore capital expenditure, CIMB Securities analyst Muhammad Afif Bin Zulkaplly says in a note. Sustained prices could improve upstream project economics, encourage higher development spending, while greater cash-flow visibility may prompt operators to resume deferred brownfield and asset-integrity work, he says. Maintenance activity could therefore strengthen as oil prices stabilize, he adds. CIMB pegs Dayang Enterprise and MISC as top picks for their exposure to domestic capital expenditure and large-cap exposure, respectively. It keeps an overweight rating on Malaysia's oil and gas sector.