Malaysian share prices closed down 0.2 percent on Friday in a mixed market as losses due to profit-taking on blue chips were limited by gains in plantation, oil and gas stocks, dealers said. Trading was cautious after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned overnight of further delinquencies and foreclosures in the troubled US subprime mortgage market.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was down 2.73 points at 1,305.94, they said. Trading volume was 1.12 billion shares worth 1.7 billion ringgit (494.2 million dollars) while gainers led losers 485 to 296, and 279 stocks were unchanged. At the close, the ringgit was quoted at 3.4425/4455 against the dollar.
"The Federal Reserve's surprise rate decision earlier this week has quickly been discounted by the market, resulting in the pullback on Wall Street overnight," said TA Securities analyst Stephen Soo.
Soo said Bernanke's comments Thursday suggested that the US subprime turmoil was more severe than expected. Index heavyweights closed mostly lower with Tenaga dropping 0.15 ringgit to 9.40, Maybank declining 0.40 to 11.10 and Telekom Malaysia unchanged at 9.55. Plantation companies extended their recent gains, with IOI Corp adding 0.10 ringgit to 6.00 while Kulim Bhd jumped 0.30 to 6.50.