Continued "political malaise" following the ongoing probe into ousted prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and the country's debt announcement has sent Bursa Malaysia to its lowest point in five months, after falling for a fourth straight session.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) Index closed at 1,775.66 points today, down 28.59 points from yesterday’s close of 1,804.25 points.

According to Bernama earlier today, among the "heavyweights" that took a hit were Maybank, which slipped 48 sen to RM10.20, Public Bank was down 20 sen to RM24.90, Petronas Chemicals was down one sen to RM8.33 and CIMB was down 10 sen to RM6.12, as at 12.30pm.

It stated that among the "heavyweights" that took a hit were Maybank, which slipped 48 sen to RM10.20, Public Bank was down 20 sen to RM24.90, Petronas Chemicals was down one sen to RM8.33 and CIMB was down 10 sen to RM6.12.

A Reuters report said the weakening ringgit was attributed to the political situation in the country, resulting in capital outflow, which, in turn, affected investor sentiment.

"The political malaise is weakening the MYR (Malaysian ringgit) and that usually triggers some outflow. But I also believe the local markets are caught up in the risk aversion.

"Foreign money is not finding the situation very reassuring, even more so with the stronger US dollar and higher US yields making servicing Malaysia's foreign debt even that much more expensive," Stephen Innes, who is head of trading APAC at Oanda, is quoted as saying.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that the nation's debt has surpassed the RM1 trillion mark and that the country was having trouble repaying it.