Malaysian shares flat

Malaysian share prices closed flat on Monday amid concerns about rising oil prices, with investors taking to the sidelines as crude rose above 59 dollars per barrel, dealers said. They said that modest gains on Wall Street on Friday and some buying interest in selected stocks failed to support the benchmark index.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index shed 0.31 points to 896.75. Declining stocks outnumbered advancers 422 to 288. Volume reached 416 million shares worth 513 million ringgit (135 million dollars).
"The market was down marginally as investors were concerned that the rising oil price would curb economic growth and fuel inflationary pressures," a local brokerage dealer said, adding that selling pressure was well absorbed.
He said the market was expected to see rangebound trade in the week ahead unless a positive catalyst emerged. If oil prices continue to rise, any gains would be limited, he added. Among blue chips, Tenaga Nasional was down 0.20 ringgit at 10.60 and Malayan Banking shed 0.10 to 11.00 ringgit while Telekom Malaysia was unchanged at 10.40.
AirAsia shed 0.01 ringgit to 1.69 on a report that Malaysian Airlines Systems may unload unprofitable routes on its domestic network, raising fears that the low-cost airline may end up taking on those flights, dealers said.