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 producer price index (PPI) , which tracks price changes of goods at the producer level, declined by 2.1% year-on-year in September, marking a downturn after seven consecutive months of growth , according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) . Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin attributed the biggest decline to the mining sector , which saw a 16.1% drop (August: -8.3%), driven by reductions in the extraction of crude petroleum (-18.6%) and natural gas (-7.9%) . The manufacturing sector also contracted, falling 1.5% (August: +1.0%), largely due to a steep decline in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (-18.7%) . In contrast, the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector grew by 5.8% (August: 2.7%), with a notable increase in the growing of perennial crops index (11.2%) . Utility sectors also showed positive growth, with the water supply index rising 7.8% and the electricity and gas supply index inching up by 0.3% . ...