Malaysian share prices closed 0.22 percent lower on Thursday on profit-taking and concerns over rising inflation after rallying to a six-month high on Wednesday, dealers said. Official data released Wednesday showed that the consumer price index rose 3.2 percent year-on-year in June, up 0.2 percentage points from May, to its highest level in six years.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed down 2.07 points at 921.94.
Decliners outnumbered advancers 479 to 235. Volume totalled 413.27 million shares worth 599.57 million ringgit (158 million dollars).
"The market took a breather, with blue chips coming under mild profit taking after a recent run-up, but it appeared to be absorbing the selling pressure quite comfortably, although there were no big leads to push stocks either way," a local brokerage dealer said.
He added that the ruling party UMNO's general assembly which opened Thursday was the focus of the market, but had provided no significant leads.
It said the strong result was on the back of higher electricity sales, higher contributions from other operating income and the management's effort to contain operating costs. Among blue chips, Tenaga Nasional closed up 0.10 ringgit at 10.80 on expectations for a strong result. Telekom Malaysia lost 0.10 to 10.60 and Malayan Banking fell 0.20 to 11.10.
DXN Holdings was up 0.005 at 0.72, after the company reported a net profit of 7.28 million ringgit for the first quarter to May, compared with 5.94 million a year earlier.
Malaysian Plantations was up 0.01 at 2.64 on strong earnings growth prospects, with interest supported by its attractive valuations, dealers said.
Kosmo Technology Industrial was up 0.06 at 3.16, after announcing it has signed an memorandum of understanding with South Korea's Hyundai Corp under which it will design, develop and manufacture mobile phone devices, while Hyundai will market the products under its brand name.
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