Malaysian share prices closed 0.52 percent lower on Wednesday in quiet trade on continuing concerns record high oil prices will slow growth and spark inflation, dealers said. They said investors also remained cautious amid a continuing investigation by the Securities Commission into cases of alleged share manipulation.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 4.69 points to 889.98 and volume was 342.55 million shares, worth 554.73 million ringgit (146 million dollars) while losers outnumbered gainers 257 to 387.
"Window-dressing ahead of the half-year closing has provided some support for blue chips Wednesday, but the declines of index heavyweight Telekom Malaysia and Malayan Banking have dragged the index down past the 890 points level," a local brokerage dealer said.
Inflationary pressures and the possibility of a US interest rate hike would be on the radar screen of investors as the US Federal Reserve was widely expected to raise interest rates later this week, dealers also said.
Among blue chips, Tenaga Nasional was flat at 10.60 ringgit while Telekom Malaysia was down 0.15 at 9.95 and Malayan Banking lost 0.10 to 10.90.
Hong Leong Bank was unchanged at 5.20 ringgit after trading higher on winning an Islamic bank license, but Gamuda was down 0.10 at 4.14 after posting a weaker third quarter to April profit.