Malaysia's key share index fell on Monday, hit by losses in shipper MISC and top cellphone firm Maxis, but the broader market rose as investors focused on penny stocks such as Landmarks.
Landmarks, a usually inactive property and hotel stock, shot up 19 percent to 87 cents on talk of a take-over by YTL Corp YTL was up 0.9 percent to 4.62 ringgit.
Landmarks and YTL both own shopping malls and hotels in the major Kuala Lumpur shopping belt of Bukit Bintang.
Falls in Maxis and MISC dragged the key share index down, accounting for 45 percent of the index loss.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed down 0.6 percent at 880.85 points, on volume of 768 million shares. But gainers beat losers by 469 to 388, as investors snapped up second liners for quick trading gains.
Malaysian shares have been fired by election fever since last month and dealers expect the market to rally further ahead of the March 21 polling day.
Investors expect Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's National Front coalition to tighten its grip on power in the coming election, with help from a buoyant domestic economy and opposition disarray.
National car maker Proton was down 2.0 percent to 9.60 ringgit. Dealers told Reuters on Monday Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp was placing out its entire 7.93 percent stake in Proton at between 8.95 and 9.50 ringgit.