The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI fell 0.2 per cent to 1,678.06 points.

The ringgit fell 0.1 per cent to 4.048.

“The KLCI should remain in consolidation mode this week after the Fed chair indicated strong possibilities for a rate hike this year,” Nikkei Asian Review (NAR) quoted Kaladher Govindan, Head of Research at TA Securities as saying in a note.

Govindan expects investors to be on the sidelines as the earnings reporting season comes to an end.

Investors remain unsure if the US central bank will raise rates at its September meeting, said the NAR report. The market is currently assigning only a one-in-five chance of the Fed raising the rates next month, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool based on Fed Fund futures prices.

On the KLCI, 15 of the 30 constituents ended lower Tuesday and three closed unchanged, while overall declining issues outnumbered advancing ones 419 to 409.

SapuraKencana fell 3.7 per cent to RM1.58, leading losses on the KLCI, as profit booking and an overnight decline in crude prices sparked selling, according to the NAR report.

Genting fell 2.5 per cent to RM7.80, its third consecutive session of losses after it reported quarterly earnings last week.

Hong Leong Financial Group fell 0.1 per cent to RM16.08.

Astro Malaysia Holdings led gains on the KLCI, advancing 2.4 per cent to RM2.95 while Westports Holdings rose 2.3 per cent to RM4.45.

Shares of AirAsia rose 0.3 per cent to RM3, a day after it reported a 41 per cent jump in quarterly net profit, helped by higher passenger traffic and cheaper fuel, said the NAR report.