KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished lower on Tuesday for the second straight session as investor risk appetite weakened ahead of the 15th General Election (GE15) polling day on Saturday.
At closing, the FBM KLCI ended 13.46 points, or 0.92% to 1,450.54 on broad-based selling.
The broader market sagged, with decliners overtaking advancers 541 to 332 while 376 counters were unchanged. Turnover stood at 2.78 billion shares worth RM1.7bil.
Dealers said the uncertainty in markets is leading investors to sell first and expect sentiment to stay cautious.
Among the losers, Aeon Credit fell 20 sen to RM12.78, Hextar Technologies eased 18 sen to RM15.22, Hartalega lost 15 sen to RM2 and Harrisons declined 13 sen to RM6.36.
BLD Plantation jumped RM1.39 to RM11, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 46 sen to RM21.56, Signature International added 25 sen to RM3.23, and Malaysia Smelting Corp gained 24 sen to RM1.70.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.5402, up 1.2% against the US dollar.
US West Texas Intermediate crude fell US$1.26 to US$84.61 and Brent lost US$1.02 to US$92.12 per barrel.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.09%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 4.11%, South Korea’s Kospi closed up 0.23% and China’s CSI 300 advanced 1.9%.