KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed almost flat on Tuesday as buying interest rotated away from index heavyweights towards smaller-cap construction stocks, with sentiment affected by geopolitical uncertainty, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.39 of a point to 1,714.40 from Monday’s close of 1,714.79. The benchmark index opened 1.65 points lower at 1,713.14 and moved between 1,710.44 and 1,714.50 throughout the trading session. The broader market was almost evenly balanced, with decliners leading gainers 548 to 546, while 598 counters were unchanged, 1,107 were untraded and 25 were suspended. Turnover expanded to 4.13 billion units valued at RM3.14 billion from 3.60 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion on Monday.
KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 27): The FBM KLCI lost 1.35 points or 0.1% as foreign selling of Malaysian stocks continued on expectation of U.S. interest rate hikes.
At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,764.24 points. U.S. interest rate hikes do not bode well for Asian markets, in anticipation investors will shift their money into US dollar-based assets.
“We are still at the selling stage. We will see how bad it gets, my guess is foreign selling will not slow down anytime soon,” Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd research head Pong Teng Siew told theedgemarkets.com.
Pong said foreign funds have been selling Malaysian equities since last week, as they took a cautious approach on the U.S.' impending quantitative drawdown and possible interest rate hikes.
Reuters reported markets were put on notice by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who used a Tuesday speech to warn that it would be "imprudent" to keep policy on hold until inflation is back at 2%. She said the U.S. central bank "should also be wary of moving too gradually" on rates.
Across Bursa Malaysia today, 2.21 billion shares valued at RM2.16 billion exchanged hands. Gainers led decliners at 376 and 343 respectively.
Sapura Energy Bhd was among Bursa Malaysia's most active stocks and leading decliners. Sapura Energy reported today, a 74% drop in its second quarter net profit at RM28.93 million from a year earlier.
Sapura Energy was Bursa Malaysia's sixth most-active stock today, as well as the 10th-largest decliner. Sapura Energy shares fell 10 sen to RM1.61, with some 45 million units traded.
Source: The Edge
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