Malaysian shares decline

Malaysian share prices closed sharply lower on Wednesday, down 2.8 percent following a slump on Wall Street amid fears of a credit crunch due to the subprime mortgage crisis, dealers said. Construction, property and industrial stocks were left bearing the brunt of the latest global sell-off, they said.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) closed down 36.52 points at 1,251.82, off an intraday low of 1,247.31 and a high of 1,277.01. Losers led gainers 988 to 59, with 108 stocks unchanged. Volume was 1.2 billion shares, valued at 2.26 billion ringgit.
"The market is oversold but it seems to be able to hold at the 1,246-point level, and that is a good sign as it shows the market be bottoming out," said Phua Kwee Hock of SJ Securities.
"Going forward, it may consolidate around that level, and if it manages to break the 1,302-point level, then we may be able to climb back to around 1,336 points in the near term," he said.
Phua said he sees Wall Street moving into range-bound mode, rather than a spectacular crash. "I don't see a collapse, rather I think this is the start of range-bound mode in US markets," he said.
Earlier, Ang Kok Heng, chief investment officer at Phillip Capital Management, said the failure of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index to hold on to its near-term support of 13,200 points had triggered the latest sell-off.
At the close, Lion Diversifed, Muhibbah Engineering and UMW Holdings led the losers. Lion Diversified dived 90 sen to 8.15 ringgit, Muhibbah dived 75 sen to 7.35 ringgit, while UMW was down 70 sen at 13.80 ringgit. Among index heavyweights, Maybank, the largest lender in Malaysia by assets, was down 20 sen at 11.30 ringgit, while national power company Tenaga fell 20 sen to 10.30 ringgit.
Telekom Malaysia recovered from its losses earlier and closed unchanged at 9.75 ringgit after the largest phone company in the country said it will sell its loss-making unit TM Payphone Sdn Bhd to Pernec Corp Bhd for 22 million ringgit in cash.
National carmaker Proton Holding declined 20 sen to 5.10 ringgit. The money-losing firm on Wednesday unveiled a new seddan which it projects to sell between 30,000 and 40,000 units over the next year.