Malaysian share prices closed little changed Wednesday with investors still cautious about the US economic outlook, dealers said. "I don't think things in the US will get much worse from where they are now," said Ang Kok Heng, chief investment officer at Phillip Capital Management.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed up 1.15 points at 1,384.58 on volume of 1.44 billion shares worth 1.79 billion ringgit (534 million dollars). Advancers led decliners 471 to 326, with 311 stocks unchanged. At the close, the ringgit was quoted at 3.3500/3530 against the dollar.
Even if the US markets were to fall sharply, Ang said he does not expect such a fall to have a major impact on Asian economies. Intra-Asian trade has increased significantly over the last 10 years and Asian stock market performance has somewhat decoupled from that of US markets, he said. As for the Malaysian market, Ang said he expects the bourse to move up further as domestic growth remains strong.