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.
Producer Prices Continue to Fall Malaysia’s Producer Price Index (PPI) dropped 4.2% year-on-year in June , marking the fourth straight month of decline and the steepest fall since June 2023. The decrease was broad-based, with significant deflation in: Mining: -8.0% YoY (crude petroleum -6.7%, natural gas -12.0%) Manufacturing: -4.3% YoY (notably coke and refined petroleum -17.7%, electronics -7.8%) Agriculture: -0.3% YoY, the first drop since November 2023, driven by weaker animal production prices. On a monthly basis, PPI slipped 0.7% in June , with declines in manufacturing, agriculture, and electricity prices, while mining prices rebounded sharply by 4.6% . CPI-PPI Gap Widens Consumer Price Index (CPI) growth slowed further to 1.1% YoY in June, the lowest since February 2021. This widened the gap between consumer inflation and producer price deflation, highlighting weak cost pass-through at the wholesale level despite...