Uneventful, sideways trade looms.

Byline: Kaladher Govindan

SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia suffered a sell-down last Monday, triggered by sharp corrections in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock markets on concern China will curb bank lending to the property sector in efforts to stamp out speculation. However, stocks rebounded from the sell-down towards the Christmas holiday break but buying momentum deteriorated as market players and investors stayed away for the year-end festive season.

Week-on-week, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) declined 3.03 points, or 0.24 per cent, to close at 1,263.94, with losses in IOI Corp(-13 sen), CIMB (-18 sen), and Tenaga (-8 sen) offsetting gains in Genting Bhd (+8 sen), DiGi.com (+50 sen) and Genting Malaysia (+4 sen). Daily average traded volume and value slowed significantly to 429.4 million shares worth RM678.3 million from 597.1 million shares worth RM863.9 million in the previous week.

Global markets' reaction to any development in China is understandable given the latter's …