Malaysian shares ended lower on Friday as investors booked profit from select blue chips like MISC but auto seat belt maker Hirotako Holdings Bhd jumped on a new government ruling. Hirotako rose 30 percent to 1.30 ringgit after the road transport department decided that locally-made cars must have airbags and rear seat belts on all new car models produced from July 1 next year.
However, trade in the broader market was light ahead of next week's long holidays while oil prices slipped below $49 a barrel.
The key Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was down 0.06 percent to 871.48 points after trading within a tight five-point range.
Malaysian International Shipping Corp Bhd, the world's largest carrier of liquefied natural gas, fell 2.1 percent to 13.70 ringgit. The stock hit a record high of 14 ringgit on Wednesday.
Among individual stocks, insurer Idaman Unggul surged nearly 16 percent to 37 cents, its highest close since October 4 after saying that it may sell its life business.
The insurer said on Thursday that the central bank had no objection to its plan to start talks to sell the entire or part of its life insurance business to Southern Bank, the country's ninth largest bank.
Southern rose 1.3 percent to 3.18 ringgit.
Overall volume was a thin 357 million shares worth 622 million ringgit ($164 million). There were 359 gainers and 338 losers.
The local market would be closed from November 11 to 16 for the Hindu Diwali and Muslim Eid-ul-Fitr festivals.