Malaysian share prices ended 0.6 percent lower on Monday, with declines mostly in plantation stocks on lower crude oil prices, dealers said. They said investors were also cautious ahead of Tuesday's crucial by-election, which will be contested by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index shed 6.87 points to close at 1,078.73.
Decliners outpace advancers 298 to 201 while trading volume was low at 284 million shares. "Political uncertainty is a strong investor repellent until we know where the chips fall, they're staying on the sidelines," a dealer told Dow Jones Newswires.
Among top decliners, IOI Corp was down 2.9 percent at 5.00 ringgit, Tenaga Nasional shed 0.6 percent at 8.20 ringgit, KL Kepong was down 3.3 percent at 11.80 ringit and Gamuda lost 5.7 percent at 2.50 ringgit. Gainers include Tanjong, up 0.8 percent at 12.50 ringgit, Bumiputra-Commerce added 2.5 percent at 8.15 ringgit while AirAsia was 1.9 percent higher 1.10 ringgit.