Malaysian share prices fell 0.6 percent on Friday in thin volume as investors took to the sidelines amid concerns over the health of the US economy, dealers said. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index ended down 8.91 points at 1,427.19, off a low of 1,416.85.
A total of 592 million shares were traded, valued at 1.5 billion ringgit (464 million dollars) while decliners led advancers 418 to 284. The Malaysian ringgit closed at 3.2200/2230 against the US dollar. Volumes were thin after Wall Street retreated overnight following Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's downbeat assessment of the US economy.
Wee Kim Hong, head of research at MA Securities said despite the confirmation of the March 8 election date, the bourse has not rallied because of weakness in US markets. "Also the election is almost month-long process, so we don't expect the market to move up so quickly," he said.
Among other index heavyweights, state-controlled Telekom Malaysia dropped 30 sen to 11.50 ringgit, national utility Tenaga eased five sen to 9.25 ringgit and Malaysia's largest bank, Maybank, fell 30 sen to 12.10 ringgit.
Malaysia's sixth-largest bank, Hong Leong Bank, advanced 15 sen to 6.15 ringgit after reporting higher profits. Plantation major Kuala Lumpur Kepong, which surged more than 10 percent over the past month, shed 30 sen to 18.90 ringgit.
Sime Darby, the world's largest listed palm oil producer, was steady at 12.20 ringgit and IOI Corp, the second-largest palm oil stock on the local bourse, slid 15 sen to 8.00 ringgit.