Malaysian share prices closed 0.14 percent higher on Monday, managing a marginal gain in the absence of any fresh lead, dealers said.
They said investors were cautious ahead of a US Federal Reserve meeting Tuesday on interest rates, hoping to get some clearer indication of how the Fed sees the US economic outlook in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index gained 1.28 points at 923.27. Volume was 341.14 million shares worth 490.87 million ringgit (130 million dollars). Losers led gainers 371 to 283, with 319 stocks unchanged and 350 untraded.
The ringgit was at 3.7698 to the US dollar and 4.5743 to the euro.
"Light buying of certain blue chips lifted the index marginally but overall market sentiment was cautious," a local brokerage dealer said. Among blue chips, power company Tenaga Nasional lost 0.10 ringgit to 10.70 following losses last week after Energy Minister Lim Keng Yaik ruled out electricity tariff hikes. Telekom Malaysia was up 0.10 at 10.50 and Malayan Banking rose 0.10 to 11.60.
PSC Industries was up 0.03 at 1.03 after property and plantation firm Boustead Holdings bought a 30 percent stake in ship builder PSC-Naval Dockyard for 166.5 million ringgit, dealers said. Boustead rose 0.04 to 1.88.
Time Engineering was up 0.02 at 0.415 after news it had secured a 100 million ringgit contract from the education ministry to supply teaching equipment to schools.
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