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.
The vote for the most powerful man in this planet, (or woman in this case) is entering into its final act, and the market is shaken by the growing uncertainties surrounding it. Come Nov 8, it’s either Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton or Republican nominee, Donald Trump that will become the new president-elect of the United States of America (US). While average polls compiled by RealClearPolitics website shows Clinton led by 7.1 percentage points in mid-October, the gap has narrowed down to just 1.7 percentage points following the FBI’s eleventh-hour resuscitation of her email controversy (as of Nov 6). Real Clear Politics average on US election polls (Source: Real Clear Politics) DOES IT MATTER? THE EQUITY INDEX SAYS SO Well, here is a quick look at the world equity index in the past one week, and it's shocking. In the Americas region In the Asia Pacific region In Europe, Middle East & Africa region Source: Bloomberg website It is sh...