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.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) reported a better-than-expected 39% increase in quarterly revenue , easing concerns that demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware is tapering off. The chipmaker posted September-quarter sales of NT$759.7 billion (US$23.6 billion or RM101.1 billion) , surpassing analysts' projections of NT$748 billion. Full results will be disclosed next Thursday. As the primary chip supplier for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc , TSMC has seen its sales more than double since 2020, driven by the rise in AI development, especially following the launch of ChatGPT . TSMC's market value briefly surpassed US$1 trillion in July , reflecting optimism about the ongoing demand for AI chips. Despite skepticism from some investors about the sustainability of AI infrastructure spending by companies like Meta and Google, TSMC remains optimistic , with high-performance computing now accounting for more than half of its revenue. The company lifted its 2024 re...