Malaysian share prices closed 0.70 percent lower in cautious trade on Monday as concerns over likely interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve dampened local buying interest, dealers said. They said falls on Wall Street on Friday and mixed earnings reports from influential companies in the United States also weighed on sentiment. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was down 6.39 points at 923.33. Volume totalled 574.04 million shares, worth some 1.01 billion ringgit (265.79 million dollars).
Losers led gainers 548 to 260, while 267 counters were unchanged and 212 were untraded.
Dealers said market sentiment was further undermined by Friday's 78-point decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index in the United States.
"The market was really in a selling mood with banking and telco sectors hit hardest. The growing concern over US corporate earnings results and interest rate hikes are not helping the situation," a local brokerage dealer said.
He expected strong support at 920, and resistance at 930, during trade on Tuesday. Tenaga Nasional was up 0.10 ringgit at 10.80 ringgit, while Telekom lost 0.30 to 10.80 and Maybank shed 0.30 to 12.20. Other banking stocks that lost ground included Commerce Asset-Holding, which fell 0.04 ringgit to 4.90, and Public Bank, which slipped 0.05 to 7.60.
Southern Bank lost 0.02 to 3.64, while Hong Leong Bank and Eon Capital were down 0.05 and 0.15, closing at 5.60 and 6.20 respectively.
Maxis Communications shed 0.45 ringgit at 9.65 on worries that its purchase of a 51 percent stake in PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler may hurt earnings in the short term.