Bursa Malaysia extended Monday’s losses to close lower today as foreign investors continued to dispose of shares amid the uncertainty in the new government’s fiscal policy, and in sync with regional markets, dealers said.

At the close, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 56.56 points lower at 1,719.28 from Monday's close of 1,775.84.

The index opened 16.28 points weaker at 1,759.56 and moved between 1,709.51 and 1,759.56 throughout the day.

Putra Business School’s business development senior lecturer and manager Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff told Bernama that many factors contributed towards today’s uncertainties, among them, the possibility of Malaysia being underrated by credit rating agencies.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said among the mega projects which will be halted are the Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT3) and Mass Rapid Transit 3 (MRT3), while the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) would be reviewed.

"The uncertainty in oil prices, which slipped to US$75 from US$80 per barrel within a short span, also contributed to the easier trend coupled with US corporate earnings announcements which were a let-down as they did not meet expectations,” said Razman.

Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia was also pinned down by the losses endured by regional bourses, with China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange dipping 2.53 percent to 3,041.44, Japan's Nikkei erased 1.52 percent to 22,018.52 and Singapore's Straits Times decreased 2.08 percent to 3,445.22.

Among other heavyweights, Maybank declined 43 sen to RM9.57, Public Bank declined 92 sen to RM23.98, TNB lost 64 sen to RM14.14, Petronas Chemicals trimmed 32 sen to RM7.99 and CIMB eased 16 sen to RM5.90.

Among actives, Sapura Energy was four sen lower at 58.5 sen, Borneo Oil shed one sen to seven sen, YTL Corp declined nine sen to 93 sen, Nexgram trimmed half-a-sen to 3.5 sen and MyEG was flat at 76.5 sen.

Market breadth was negative with losers trouncing gainers 995 to 148, with 293 counters unchanged, 498 untraded and 54 others were suspended.

Volume increased to 3.6 billion units, valued at RM4.45 billion, from Monday’s 2.18 billion units, valued at RM2.28 billion.

The FBM Emas Index decreased 419.87 points to 11,998.42, the FBM Ace lost 158.49 points to 4,974.45 and the FBMT 100 Index gave up 413.43 points to 11,811.69.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 418.82 points to 12,026.14 and the FBM 70 declined 582.16 points to 14,194.16.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index trimmed 547.27 points to 17,188.82, the Industrial Index eased 102.07 points to 3,052.89 while the Plantation Index declined 88.06 points to 7,755.7.

The Main Market volume increased to 2.28 billion shares, worth RM4.27 billion, from Monday’s 1.29 billion shares, worth RM2.14 billion.

Warrants volume gained to 911.19 million units, valued at RM133.7 million, from Monday’s 586.73 million units, valued at RM98.4 million.

Volume on the ACE Market rose to 404.25 million shares, worth RM49.09 million, from 300.51 million shares, worth RM39.19 million, previously.

Consumer products accounted for 65.19 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (410.52 million), construction (206.05 million), trade and services (1.06 billion), technology (86.11 million), infrastructure (50.91 million), SPAC (2.57 million), finance (148.61 million), hotels (1.92 million), properties (199.18 million), plantations (34.84 million), mining (247,200), REITs (15.39 million) and closed/fund (5,000).

- Bernama