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.
U.S. stocks posted a mixed finish on Thursday despite a scorching July Producer Price Index (PPI) reading that initially rattled markets. The PPI jumped 0.9% month-on-month, the fastest in three years and well above forecasts, sparking a swift sell-off in futures before buyers stepped back in.
By the close:
S&P 500 eked out a record high.
Dow Jones and Nasdaq ended marginally lower.
Beneath the surface, small caps and rate-sensitive stocks took heavy hits.
Key market dynamics:
Rotation stalls – Earlier in the week, falling bond yields had driven money into small caps and homebuilders. The hot PPI abruptly reversed this trend.
Small-cap slump – Russell 2000 fell 1.2%; homebuilder ETF XHB slid 1.8%.
Mega-cap support – Heavyweights like Amazon and Netflix propped up the indexes, masking broader market weakness.
Breadth deterioration – Decliners outnumbered gainers in the S&P 500 despite the index’s modest rise.
Economists noted that much of the PPI surprise came from higher portfolio-management fees, a form of financial-services inflation, with limited direct connection to tariffs. This suggests only a modest near-term impact on the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the PCE index.
Rate expectations adjusted slightly — traders trimmed odds of a September Fed cut, though markets still see it as likely. But analysts warn: if inflation proves sticky while labor market cracks widen, even Big Tech may not escape the fallout.
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