KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 ― The local bourse has been spooked by the ongoing political uncertainty following the resignation of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister and chairman of Parti Peribumi Bersatu, marking his possible exit from politics.

As the market resumed after lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 42.78 points or 2.79 per cent to 1,488.22.

This marks the lowest level reached by the local bourse in more than eight years since December 2011.

The index opened at 1,501.47, hovering between 1,486.71 to 1,510.42 throughout the morning session.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded at 4.2210/2280 against the greenback at 3pm.

Across the board, all index were negative with the construction counter continues its downtrend, shedding 6.56 per cent, followed by the energy counter which declined 4.16 per cent.

Blue-chip stocks took the heaviest hit was Maybank, declining 19 sen RM8.22, Tenaga Nasional shrinking 56 sen to RM12.22, Public Bank reducing 64 sen to RM17.50, Petronas Chemical sliding 22 sen to RM6.23, and IHH weakening 13 sen to RM5.61.

The construction index, which took the biggest hit, witnessed its components such Ecovest sliding five sen to 68.5 sen, Sunway construction dropping six sen to RM1.89, Muhibbah engineering declining nine sen to RM1.74, and AME Elite shrinking 11 sen to RM1.79.

An analyst said the FBM KLCI is expected to continue its downtrend and test the 1,480 benchmarks if the political uncertainty persists until the end of the day.

"A continuous withdrawal would take place until a decision is made by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, maybe later today.

"Until then, investors remain on high alert as the current ruling government is in ‘trouble’,” she said.

On the scoreboard, losers outpaced gainers 1,005 to 111, with 170 unchanged, 713 untraded and 21 suspended. 

Total volume was at 2.87 billion with the value of RM2.57 billion.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 328.25 points to 10,637.36, the FBMT 100 Index declined 318.14 points to 10,428.97 and FBM Ace shed 135.43 points to 5,611.49.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index gave up 344.47 points to 11,312.79 and FBM 70 dipped 484.08 points to 13,397.71.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 3.83 points to 141.96, the Financial Services Index shed 385.56 points to 14,310.36 and the Plantation Index weakened 24.56 points to 6,910.06. ― Bernama