KLCI closes down 26.79 to 1330.61 on continuous selling pressure. The losing counters 598 and winners 173 with 212 counters unchanged. There were 580 million shares changed hand valuing at RM1.51 billion

Shares in KNM Group was suspended today to make way for an announcement related to a Euro 350 mil(RM 1.7 bil) foreign acquisition.

Palm oil futures shot up RM 300 to a record RM 4150 on record soyoil and higher wheat and corn prices.

Thailand central bank remove curbs on capital flow effective today to boost economic growth and reign in rising inflation.

Malaysia will allow offshore trade in its ringgit currency when the time is right, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today.

“When I think it is time to do it, I will do it,” the PM told CNBC in an interview. He was asked when Malaysia would allow the ringgit to be traded offshore after Thiland removed curbs on capital flow.

The ban on offshore ringgit trade was part of a series of capital controls that Malaysia imposed to protect its economy from currency speculators during the 1998 Asian financial crisis.

The government has removed most of the controls, including scrapping the ringgit’s peg to the dollar in 2005, but offshore trade in the currency is still forbidden.