Malaysian share prices closed 0.3 percent lower Friday with investors declining to take positions ahead of an action packed weekend, dealers said. They said most investors were unwinding their trading positions ahead of the weekend and major events such as the elections in Iraq and a meeting of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil ministers. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell 2.72 points at 917.23. Volume was 528.94 million shares worth some 895.63 million ringgit (235.69 million dollars).
Losers led gainers 498 to 268, while 285 stocks were unchanged and 242 went untraded.
A dealer at a local brokerage said market liquidity was still at healthy levels and he expected the composite index to stay above the 900-point-level next week.
"Next week, we can expect the market to find a base at the 900 to 905-point-level," he said.
Tenaga Nasional lost 0.10 ringgit to 10.70 ringgit, while Telekom Malaysia was down 0.10 ringgit at 11.10. Malayan Banking was up 0.10 ringgit at 12.30.
Construction firm Crest Builder Holdings Bhd was up 0.35 ringgit at 1.39 on speculative trading interest and Gamuda Bhd gained 0.10 ringgit to 5.50 on optimism that the company may secure more projects this year.
Property developer Sunrise Bhd was up 0.02 ringgit at 1.77 after announcing better-than-expected results for the three months to December 2004.
New listing Ramunia Holdings rose to 0.71 ringgit from its offer price of 0.50 on its first day of trading. It was the most active stock with 25.76 million shares traded.