Malaysian shares prices closed down 2.2 percent on Monday in line with the region on concerns over the US economy despite the announcement of a 145-billion dollar stimulus package, dealers said.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) fell 30.89 points to 1,408.6 with volume of 948.97 million shares valued at 2.34 billion ringgit (713.4 million dollars) while losers led gainers 844 to 104 and 161 stocks were untraded.
At the close, the Malaysian ringgit was quoted at 3.2830/2865 against the dollar. Michael Lai, investment director at Fortress Capital Asset Management, said the key index's losses were narrower compared to other markets in the region. "The local market is lagging its regional peers on the way down, with the downside partly mitigated by a stronger Malaysian ringgit," Lai said.
"The uncertain outlook for corporate earnings will continue to weigh on Asian markets in the first half, because I think it will take that long for us to see how things will pan out in the US," he added. Asian markets will remain highly volatile going forward, agreed Kenny Yee, the head of research at OSK Investment Bank. "Until the situation in the US stabilises, we can expect knee-jerk reactions to dictate sentiment within the region," said Yee.
Major blue chips led Monday's fall, with British American Tobacco, the country's largest cigarette maker, losing 0.75 ringgit to 42.00 and IOI Corp falling 0.15 to 7.85. Among other index heavyweights, national power supplier Tenaga dropped 0.25 to 9.35, state-owned Telekom Malaysia fell 0.10 to 11.30 and Maybank was down 0.50 at 11.60.