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.
Chinese stocks soared on Wednesday, driving a regional market rally as Beijing's stimulus measures continued to fuel optimism. The global rally was further supported by risk-sensitive currencies , while Brent crude hovered near a three-week high . Meanwhile, the US dollar weakened following weak macroeconomic data, increasing expectations for another significant interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve . At the same time, gold hit a fresh all-time high . As of 0230 GMT, mainland Chinese blue chips had surged 3.1%, following a 4.3% jump in the previous session. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 2.2%, building on Tuesday's 4.1% surge. The rally in Chinese stocks also lifted other regional indices, with Taiwan's benchmark up 1.3% and South Korea's Kospi gaining 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.3%, helped by a retreat in the yen, despite some early weakness. The People’s Bank of China followed up on its broad policy easing announcement with a cut in medium-ter...