7:33 pm - Malaysian shares close flat as regional markets fall on oil, credit woes

UPDATE KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Financial) - Malaysian shares closed little changed on Tuesday after profit-taking erased early gains, with initial bargain-hunting interest balanced out by sharp declines in other regional markets due to concerns over rising energy costs and continuing fallout from the U.S. credit crisis. The Shanghai Composite led the regional rout with a 7.73 percent loss at the close, after the People's Bank of China said over the weekend that it is raising the reserve requirement on bank deposits by a full percentage point this month. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) edged down 0.02 of a point to close at 1,230.96, off a high of 1,239.06. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia 30-large cap index dipped 6.37 points or 0.1 percent to 7,962.76, while the FTSE Bursa Malaysia second board index dropped 17.13 points or 0.3 percent to 5,659.21. Decliners led advancers 396 to 227, with 253 stocks unchanged and 534 untraded. Trading volume was low at 454 million shares, valued at 1.2 billion ringgit "Local market sentiment is still being affected by the fuel price hike,'' said Phua Kwee Hock, an analyst at SJ Securities, referring to the recent government decision to raise fuel prices by 41 percent for petrol and 60 percent for diesel. "The market will continue to move in a tight range due to continuing concerns on inflation.'' Phua said he expects the market to trade between 1,224 and 1240 points tomorrow. Looking ahead, HLG Research said the local market will trade sideways with a downside bias. "In our view, present market conditions are the worst for stock-picking in 10 years,'' the research house said. "We think fuel price-induced price inflation is a major threat to domestic consumer spending and price-and-cost-rigid segments of the Malaysian economy, such as government-linked companies,'' it said, referring to the government's recent decision to raise the price of fuel. Blue chips and big caps led the declines. Food and beverage giant Nestle Malaysia lost 1.7 percent to finish at 29.50 ringgit while insurer LPI Capital dropped 2.5 percent to 11.70 ringgit. Government-linked construction company UEM Builders added 1.6 percent to 1.29 ringgit after announcing it had received government approval to raise the cost of the Second Penang Bridge to over 4.3 billion ringgit ($1.3 billion). The new price tag represents a 19 percent increase from an earlier estimate of 3.6 billion ringgit. Among plantation majors, Sime Darby slipped 0.6 percent to 9.10 ringgit while IOI Corp was flat at 7.10 ringgit. Among index heavyweights, Tenaga was up 1.8 percent at 8.40 ringgit, Telekom Malaysia shed 0.6 percent to 3.18 ringgit and Maybank, the largest bank in Malaysia by assets, was unchanged at 7.35 ringgit. The ringgit closed at 3.2655/2685, while the three-month interbank rates were at 3.66/67, and overnight rates stood at 3.49/50.