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.
Indian sovereign bonds that were recently included in JPMorgan Chase & Co’s emerging-market bond index experienced their first weekly outflow since the inclusion in June. According to Clearing Corporation of India data, overseas investors sold 16.8 billion rupees (US$200 million) worth of Fully Accessible Route (FAR) bonds last week, marking the largest outflow since May 10. The outflow is modest when compared to the average weekly inflow of US$570 million since the index inclusion, according to Morgan Stanley. However, it underscores the impact of uncertain Federal Reserve interest rate expectations and elevated crude prices due to geopolitical tensions. Naveen Singh, head of trading at ICICI Securities, attributed the outflows to the unwinding of total return swap trades amid changes in Fed rate expectations and a pullback in US yields. Although India's recent inclusion in FTSE Russell and Bloomberg emerging market indexes from January 2025 is expected to have a lim...