Malaysian share prices closed 0.34 percent lower on Tuesday in thin trade with some light selling seen in select blue chips, dealers said. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 3.11 points at 906.5. Volume traded totalled 389.18 million shares worth 654.89 million ringgit (172 million dollars) while losers led gainers 487 to 241. "There was nothing exciting in the market today, except for some light selling in select blue chips," a head of research at a local brokerage said.
Tenaga and Malayan Banking closed unchanged at 11.00 ringit and 11.90 respectively. Telekom Malaysia was also unchanged at 11.70.
AirAsia closed down 0.02 at 1.81 ringgit after chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said the company expects 20 million of its passengers to use Kuala Lumpur International Airport in five years, up from an estimated 4.5 million this year.
Excel Force was 0.02 higher against its IPO price of 0.43 ringgit. Merge was 0.015 higher at 0.505 ringgit following improved nine-month results.
Haisan added 0.02 to 1.78 ringgit, ahead of its suspension on December 28 to facilitate its one-into-two stock split.
Dolomite was down 0.005 at 0.615 ringgit. The construction firm said it had reached a preliminary deal with the municipal government of Wuhai City in China's Inner Mongolia to build a coal-fired power plant and a water treatment plant.
VS Industry fell 0.01 to 1.39 ringgit, while AV Ventures shed 0.05 to 1.84.