Malaysian shares finished down on Wednesday, dented by concerns of a US interest rate hike, but the key index rose a tad on fund-buying of blue chips.
The 100-stock Kuala Lumpur Composite Index ended 0.31 percent up at 864.02 after bobbing in and out of negative territory for most of the day.
In the broader market, a paltry 292 million shares changed hands with losers beating gainers 402 to 330.
Dealers said already light interest was dampened by concern that a US rate increase would come sooner rather than later following Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's remark on Tuesday that the threat of US deflation was over. A rise in phone firm Telekom Malaysia and top lender Maybank contributed over half of the index's gains.
Telekom was up 1.55 percent to 9.85 ringgit while Maybank gained nearly one percent to 11.00 ringgit.
Public Bank, which reported a 46 percent jump in first quarter earnings late Wednesday afternoon, was down 2.9 percent to 2.99 ringgit.
Malaysian Plantations (MPlant) shares remained in focus amid a boardroom tussle in the firm. The stock, which has been volatile since a boardroom fight erupted early April, fell almost one percent to 2.19 ringgit on volume of 2.9 million shares.
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