The exchange lost the gains it chalked up at the close of trading last week while the local currency was spooked again by inflation fears.

Bursa took the cue from the poor performance on Wall Street last Friday, thanks to cautious sentiments among investors, to start the day lower.

At the opening bell, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was already 1.58 points lower at 1,475.61, down from last Friday’s close of 1,477.19.

Ten minutes later, it lost another 2.69 points to settle at 1,472.92.

Meanwhile, the ringgit started the day little changed from last week. At 9am, it was traded at 4.4090/4160 against the US dollar from 4.4010/4080 at last Friday’s close.

Dealers said markets are hedging for another hawkish outcome from the US Federal Reserve meeting due to sticky inflation.

The higher-than-expected reading of last Friday’s US producer price index looms large over this week’s key consumer price index data this week, a dealer added.