KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 11): The FBM KLCI slipped 6.04 points or 0.3% on profit taking and after analysts said Malaysian shares were overvalued. Meanwhile, the ringgit strengthened.

At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,816.88 points. In currency markets, the
ringgit appreciated to their strongest levels today against the US dollar and Singapore dollar at 3.9848 and 2.9891 respectively.

At Bursa Malaysia, the KLCI slipped for the third consecutive day today after falling 4.03 and 5.2 points on Wednesday and Tuesday respectively.

Today, Bursa Malaysia saw 4.02 billion shares worth RM3.05 billion traded. Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd research head Pong Teng Siew told theedgemarkets.com that investors has been taking profits after "a long spell of almost unbroken gains".

Credit Suisse wrote in a note yesterday that the research firm
reiterated its underweight call on India, Australia, Malaysia, and the Philippines' equity markets.

Credit Suisse said "we reiterate our underweight on the expensive 4 — the 4 most overvalued markets on our PBV vs ROE valuation model except Indonesia.

"The risk with our underweight call is that flows into these markets overwhelm valuations and poor fundamentals."

Today, Malaysian shares fell with Asian equity markets. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 0.33% while South Korea's Kospi fell 0.47%

Reuters reported that the New Year rally in Asian shares petered out on Thursday due to concerns about rising US protectionism, while bonds rebounded after China's regulator called a report about Beijing slowing or halting its US bond buying possibly wrong.