KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower in another cautious trading today in tandem with most regional peers amid speculation of that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will raise interest rates as early as September, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 10.40 points or 0.60 per cent, dragged down by losses in the bourse’s heavyweight stocks, to close at 1,729.05.

Laggards in the FBM KLCI component stocks led by Maxis, which declined 19 sen to RM6.65, followed by Tenaga declined 16 sen to RM13.20, CIMB Group fell six sen to RM5.24 and Telekom eased 12 sen to RM6.60.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 605 to 221 with 278 counters unchanged, 709 untraded and 12 others suspended.

Most Asian stock markets sank in a sea of red on Tuesday as recent upbeat US jobs data bolstered expectations of an interest rate increase by the Fed before year-end.

“Speculation is that Fed will raise US rates as early as September, and this anticipation that hit emerging markets generally.

“So the risk of disorderly capital outflows still persist and these uncertainties contributed to current volatility,” a local dealer said.

On regional markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged 1.76 per cent to 20,096.30, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng contracted 1.20 per cent to 26,989.52 and China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index edged down 0.36 per cent to 5,113.53, while Singapore’s Straits Times fell 0.58 per cent to 3,301.05.

On the local scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index slid 74.20 points to 12,010.39, the FBMT100 Index declined 71.59 points to 11,690.94 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index contracted 92.81 points to 12,501.49.

The FBM 70 depreciated 86.36 points to 13,293.95, the FBM Ace slipped 86.30 points to 6,417.80, the Finance Index lost 17.77 points to 15,522.27, the Industrial Index shed 10.65 points to 3,187.98, and the Plantation Index trimmed 41.67 points to 7,355.55.

Total volume rose to 1.33 billion units worth RM1.46 billion from 1.24 billion units worth RM1.38 billion on Monday.

 Among the actively traded stocks was newly-listed Dolphin International Bhd, which made its debut at 77 sen on the main market and settled at the close at 71.5 sen, with 51.54 million shares changing hands.

Other active stocks included Kanger and VSolar, which added half-a-sen to 16 sen and 16 sen, respectively, Frontken slipped one sen to 25.5 sen, IFCA MSC shed five sen to RM1.33, while K-One Technology eased 1.5 sen to 33 sen.

Main Market volume increased to 843.11 million shares worth RM1.31 billion from 717.11 million shares worth RM1.25 billion on Monday.

Turnover on the ACE Market shrank to 338.40 million shares worth RM100.77 million from 369.47 million shares worth RM87.31 million.

Warrants contracted to 147.64 million shares worth RM52.44 million from 152.52 million shares worth RM45.64 million.

Consumer products accounted for 77.68 million shares traded on the main market, industrial products (197.20 million), construction (29.45 million), trade and services (352.67 million), technology (32.49 million), infrastructure (14.04 million), SPAC (15.88 million), finance (33.41 million), hotels (559,200), properties (65.41 million), plantations (16.31 million), mining (51,000), REITs (7.87 million), and closed/fund (71,000). — Bernama