``These are very painful moves. All our hard-earned money are in those shares,'' said a retired senior civil servant, while his wife listened anxiously to a DBS employee patiently explaining the procedures.

``All we can do is wait and see. If I sell now, I will be reduced to a pauper,'' he said.

Malaysian shares traded here fell by as much as 33 per cent last week. The Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) announced late Friday that it could no longer conduct trading of Malaysian shares in its over-the-counter market known as the Central Limit OrderBook International. In Kuala Lumpur, share prices ended 22 per cent up but off their intra-day high, but analysts felt the buying by retail investors there was unsustainable, as foreigners were unable to sell their shares and the political situation remained uncertain.

Meanwhile, UOB Asset Management Ltd, linked to another top Singapore bank United Overseas Bank, announced the suspension of trading in its United Malaysia Fund.

``This is because the remittance of money, which will be involved in the realisation of investments in Malaysia in order to meet redemptions of units is now restricted,'' it said in a statement. The manager of the unit trust would be evaluating its options and would issue a statement in seven days to inform unit holders of the next course of action, it added.

These moves came after some drastic measures Kuala Lumpur imposed last week to curb offshore trading of Malaysian shares and its currency the ringgit. Through its member stockbrokers, the SES said it was making arrangementsfor investors with outstanding Malaysian shares here to have their holdings reflected in M Alaysia's Central Depository Sdn. Bhd.