Malaysian share prices closed 0.56 percent lower on Thursday on profit-taking after four days of gains and amid a lack of fresh leads, dealers said. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell 7.84 points to 1,369.30, off a low of 1,365.47, on volume of 1.21 billion shares worth 2.2 billion ringgit (637.7 million dollars).
Losers led gainers 490 to 398 and 280 stocks were unchanged. At the close, the ringgit was quoted at 3.4460/4500 against the US dollar. "The stock market's fall today was expected, in line with the technical indicators," said Heddy Humaizi, head of retail research at Aseambankers Research.
"Big-caps and blue chips faced selling pressure, while buying interest was seen in the lower liners, especially the laggards in the oil and gas sector," he said. Among index heavyweights, Tenaga shed 0.40 ringgit to 11.10, Telekom Malaysia inched up 0.10 to 10.60 while the country's biggest bank, Maybank, dropped 0.10 to 12.20.