Malaysian shares close lower on Wall Street fall, regional weakness

Malaysian shares close lower on Wall Street fall, regional weakness - UPDATE

	Published : Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:30 By : Agencies Print this Story

KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Financial) - Malaysian shares closed sharply lower Monday after a slump on Wall Street Friday dented investor sentiment across Asia.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) closed down 19.36 points or 1.4 percent at 1,350.81.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia 30-large cap index declined 111.37 points or 1.3 percent to 8,553.55 and the second board index fell 1.53 points or 1.4 percent to 106.65.

Losers beat gainers 784 to 136, with 156 stocks unchanged and 250 untraded.

Trading volume was 1.65 billion shares, valued at 1.63 billion ringgit.

'We believe that there is likely to be follow-through selling in the US as pessimism over the US economy, which was accentuated by Caterpillar's statement that many of its clients in the US are experiencing recession, permeates in the financial community,' said Vincent Khoo, head of research at Aseambankers Investment Bank.

Caterpillar, one of the world's largest construction equipment makers, soured the mood Friday with its assessment of the US economy.

'Overall, we expect fear, pessimism and gloom to dominate the local bourse this week, thanks to external volatility,' said Ng Jun Sheng, an analyst at SBB Securities.

Since Oct 1, the KLCI has traded in a range of 1,337 to 1,383 points due to a dearth of fresh cues. Investors can now expect a significant downward correction in Malaysia, Ng said.

Stock exchange operator Bursa Malaysia led the decliners, falling 70 sen or 5.1 percent to 13.10 ringgit. British-American Tobacco, the largest cigarette maker in Malaysia by market share, dropped 50 sen or 1.2 percent to 40.00 ringgit.

Malaysia's third largest mobile phone company DiGi.com finished the day up 20 sen or 0.9 percent at 23.20 ringgit as investors cheered the company's strong third-quarter earnings performance.

The local unit of Norway's Telenor posted a 51 percent jump in third-quarter net profit to 273.28 million ringgit. DiGi has declared a special dividend of 1.00 ringgit per share for the quarter.

Shares of RHB Capital advanced 15 sen or 2.6 percent to 5.95 ringgit amid speculation that Malaysia's fourth-largest bank by assets is considering merging with rival AMMB Holdings Bhd to create the country's second largest banking group.

AMMB ended the day down 4 sen or 0.9 percent to 4.26 ringgit.

Index heavyweights were mostly lower with national power company Tenaga losing 20 sen or 2.1 percent to 9.15 ringgit. Tenaga is expected to release its full-year to August results on Thursday.

Maybank, the largest bank in Malaysia by assets, declined 10 sen or 0.9 percent to 11.40 ringgit while state-run Telekom Malaysia gained 20 sen or 2.0 percent to 10.40 ringgit.

At the close, the ringgit was quoted at 3.3740/3770 against the US dollar.

Three-month interbank rates were quoted at 3.55/58 and the overnight rates were at 3.48/50.

aipeng.soo@thomson.com

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Malaysian shares close lower on Wall Street fall, regional weakness - UPDATE