Malaysian share prices closed little changed on Wednesday as bargain-hunting in select blue chips by local funds offset losses led by a slump in mining stocks, dealers said. They said the fall in mining stocks reflected the recent world-wide downtrend in oil and metal prices.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was up 0.55 points at 954.25 on turnover of 717.54 million shares worth 902.35 million ringgit (258 million dollars) while losers led gainers 341 to 326 with 342 stocks unchanged.
At the close, the ringgit was quoted at 3.6755/6805 to the dollar. Dealers said stocks may open higher tomorrow on follow-through bargain-hunting interest from local institutions, before giving way to profit-taking again in a market still caught in a tight range.
"It was the same thing again - foreign funds cashing out, as they did when the market hit a high of 970 points on September 4, the day the budget was announced," a local dealer said. He said foreign funds are seeing more value in the United States and in regional markets that are reacting positively to the fall in crude oil prices.
"It is only natural that these funds cash out of here and channel the funds into those more profitable markets," he said. Among blue chips, Maybank, Tenaga Nasional and Telekom were all steady at 11.30 ringgit, 9.25 ringgit and 9.15 ringgit respectively.
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