Malaysian stocks closed 1.43 percent lower on Thursday amid investors' fears over a looming world-wide recession, dealers said. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index shed 12.96 points to end the day at 891.32 on a turnover of 579.38 million shares worth 1.04 billion ringgit (291 million dollars).
Losers outnumbered gainers by 477 to 161, while 188 were unchanged with 506 untraded. "The weak sentiment is partly the result of the drop in the US market overnight and the broader perception of a looming recession in the US," Alliance Bank analyst Kaladher Govindan told AFP.
"The commodity prices have also plunged and affected several CPO counters due to the negative sentiments in the market," he added. Gainers were led by Lion Industries up 4 sen to 0.54 ringgit while Public Bank gained 5 sen to 8.75 ringgit. Among losers, plantation giant IOI Corp slipped 2 sen to 3.02 ringgit while Sime Darby erased 10 sen to 6.25 ringgit as state power company Tenaga Nasional was flat at 6.45 ringgit.