Malaysian share prices closed 0.33 percent lower in sluggish trade on Monday in the absence of news to stimulate the market, dealers said. They said the market lacked inspiration despite high profile budget carrier AirAsia delivering much improved second quarter profits on better demand for cheap air travel. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was down 3.03 points at 904.72. Volume was 524.0 million shares worth 1.06 billion ringgit 278.96 million ringgit).

Losers led gainers 494 to 260, while 305 stocks were unchanged and 240 untraded. A local brokerage dealer said he expected trading to be rangebound Tuesday with support pegged between 897 and 905 points, while resistance was likely within the 907 to 917 range.

Among the blue chips, Tenaga Nasional was flat at 10.30 ringgit, while Telekom Malaysia lost 0.10 ringgit to 10.50 ringgit. Maybank was up 0.10 ringgit at 12.40.

Budget carrier AirAsia was down 0.08 ringgit to 1.70, despite reporting that second quarter to December net profit rose to 44.36 million ringgit from 10.5 million in the first, due largely to higher demand for air travel.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005