Malaysian shares ended lower for the first time in five days on Tuesday as investors took profits from the market's recent strength.
Heavyweights like top lender Maybank and cigarette-maker British American Tobacco (BAT), which helped drive the key index to its highest close in nearly two weeks on Monday, led the drop.
The benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index finished 0.41 percent down at 861.56. The key index had gained 2.3 percent in the last four days until on Monday to end at 865.07 its highest close since September 21.
Overall volume was a modest 441 million shares worth 949 million ringgit ($250 million), with decline's beating gainers 370 to 334. Maybank fell 0.9 percent to 11.00 ringgit while BAT dropped 3.8 percent to 44.50 ringgit.
Losses in these two stocks accounted for almost half of the main index's decline. Lender Affin Holdings dropped 1.2 percent to 1.68 ringgit after saying it was not in talks to sell a 30 percent stake in its banking unit to Dutch-based bank ABN Amro or any other European banks.
Affin shares gained 4 percent on Monday after a weekend report quoted unidentified sources as saying ABN was interested in acquiring the stake in Malaysia's seventh-largest lender, Affin Bank.
But national carmaker Proton rose another 0.6 percent to 9.15 ringgit, driven by news it was in talks with Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, with a view to a partnership. The stock has risen over 12 percent since on Friday.
Proton has relied on tax benefits to gain control of about half of Malaysia's car market, but analysts say a foreign partner is crucial if the firm wants to compete in a market that is up under regional trade rules.
Comments
Comments are closed.