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.
According to Deloitte, British consumer sentiment fell by 2.6 percentage points in Q2 — marking the sharpest drop since 2022 and hitting its lowest point since early 2024 . What's Driving the Decline? Job Security Fears Consumers are getting nervous as unemployment hits 4.7% — the highest since 2021. Companies are cutting back on hiring, partly due to: Higher employment taxes Minimum wage hikes (April) Stricter employee protection laws Cost-of-Living Pressure Inflation is back at 3.6% (June) — making daily expenses heavier and pushing debt sentiment lower . Mixed Signals from the Economy Interestingly, while consumers feel worse, Deloitte notes business confidence is rising (per their CFO survey). And another sentiment tracker (GfK) showed improvement. “We’re seeing resilience in the face of global uncertainty,” said Deloitte’s chief economist Ian Stewart. But make no mistake — this drop in confidence i...