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.
Malaysia's inflation rate decreased to 1.8% in November 2024 , marking the first decline since August 2021. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 133.3 , compared to 130.9 in November 2023, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) . Key Highlights Inflation by Categories Health : Increased by 1.2% . Transport : Slowed to 0.4% . Food & Beverages : Rose 2.6% (October: 2.3% ). Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels : Grew 3.2% (October: 3.1% ). Information & Communication : Declined to -3.9% (October: -1.7% ), primarily due to a -4.4% drop in the subgroup of Information & Communication Services. Clothing & Footwear : Remained in negative territory at -0.3% . Other sectors like Personal Care & Miscellaneous Goods ( 3.4% ) and Restaurant & Accommodation Services ( 2.8% ) maintained their pr...