SHARE PRICES END MOSTLY LOWER

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 (Bernama) -- Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended mostly lower today with selling in some bluechips and second liners amid a lack of fresh leads, said dealers.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) shed 3.48 points to 1,270.88 after opening 0.7 of a point lower at 1,273.66.

Jupiter Securities' head of research, Pong Teng Siew, said the market was quiet and expected to remain the same rest of the week, especially with investors taking stock.

He said the re-listing of Maxis absorbed some liquidity in the market which otherwise would have gone to other indices.

"Maxis had taken the steam out of the market. It's going to be quiet this week," he said.

He also said there was not enough momentum to keep the local market in an upswing, and there could be further downslide if the Wall Street does not improve.

"Investors there are apprehensive especially about the U.S. housing market and the downgrade of the country's third quarter gross domestic product estimate. That is affecting their market," said Pong.

The FBM Emas Index slipped 18.99 points to 8,485.87, the FBM Top 100 declined 18.58 points to 8,292.12 and the FBM 70 fell 2.03 points to 8,235.29. The FBM ACE decreased 68.07 points to 4,368.55, while the Industrial Index rose 1.5 points to 2,687.36, the Plantation Index shrank 61.71 points to 6,158.84 and the Finance Index dipped 11.1 points to 10,994.04. Decliners outnumbered advancers by 428 to 234 while 252 counters were unchanged and 362 others untraded. Overall volume was lower at 808.167 million shares worth RM880.017 million from last Friday's closing volume of 858.320 million shares worth RM1.254 billion. -- MORE

UHS SD