Shares of Creative Technology, whose products compete with Apple Computer's iPod, fell to their lowest in almost two years on concern demand is slowing for its digital music players.

The shares fell 3.6 percent, or 50 Singapore cents, to S$13.30 (HK$62.51) at the close in Singapore. The stock has fallen 45 percent this year, compared with the 4.2 percent rise in the benchmark Straits Times Index.

Creative, seeking to build its share of the music-player market, is under increasing pressure as Samsung Electronics, Asia's largest electronics maker by market value, and Japan's Sony introduce more models.

``The hype for its MP3 players is over,'' said Pranab Kumar Sarmah, the Hong Kong-based regional head of information technology and electronics at Daiwa Institute of Research, who has a ``reduce'' rating on the stock. ``Yet Creative has been aggressive in ramping up supply, inventories have gone up sharply and may have to be written down. It's going to be hard to attract investors.'' Creative's inventory climbed to S$451.2 million in the company's fiscal third quarter, up 2.8 times from a year earlier and the highest in at least 13 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In the three months ended March, Creative products stayed in the company's warehouses for an average of 138 days before being shipped to customers, according to Bloomberg data, 1.4 times longer than a year earlier.

BLOOOMBERG