Malaysian share prices closed 0.5 percent lower on Monday amid moves by China to cool its economy by cracking down on illegal fund outflows, dealers said. They said the falls were also in line with a negative regional tone over worries about the US subprime mortgage crisis.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was down 6.73 points at 1,379.91, off a high of 1,393.29. Turnover was 769 million shares worth 1.13 billion ringgit (335 million dollars) while losers led risers 568 to 257 and 217 were untraded. At the close, the ringgit traded at 3.3700/3720 against the dollar.
"The market was down today mainly due to the decision by China's authorities which affected sentiment and provoked a sell-off," said Phua Kwee Hock, an analyst at SJ Securities. Ng Jun Sheng, analyst at SBB Securities, said: "The market's undertone is still cautious because of the highly volatile trading sessions in global equity markets."
"At present, there is very little catalyst (locally) to (offset) the worrying US economic outlook, a depreciating US dollar and rising commodity prices," he said. Among index heavyweights, Maybank gained 0.20 ringgit to 11.50 ringgit, while state-run Telekom Malaysia dropped 0.20 to 10.70. National power firm Tenaga inched up 0.05 at 9.0 ringgit.