MANILA, Philippines?Local stocks opened the week on a bearish note, as widely expected, given the gloomy sentiment in Wall Street and rising sovereign debt concerns on some European nations.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange composite index lost 9.04 points or 0.32 percent to close at 2,846.60 on Monday.

The worst hit was the financial sector which tumbled by 2.24 percent, led by the decline in Bank of the Philippine Islands and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. There was likewise weakness in the services and mining/oil counters which wiped out slim gains posted by the industrial, holding firms, and property sectors.

There were 56 decliners as against only 35 gainers and 68 unchanged stocks. Value turnover was thin at P1.86 billion as the market await the stream of local corporate fourth-quarter/full year 2009 earnings report as well as developments on the US economy.

The country's most valuable stock, telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., continued to succumb to profit-taking. So did Jollibee Foods Corp. amd SM Prime Holdings.

Overall index losses, however, were tempered by some bargain-hunting on Ayala Corp., Universal Robina Corp., Ayala Land Inc., Globe Telecom, Megaworld Corp., Manila Electric Co., and Aboitiz Power Corp.

"I think there's some foreign buying now," said Joseph Roxas, president of local stock brokerage Eagle Equities Inc.

He said Monday's meek trading merely reflected the flattish trading in Wall Street on Friday night.

On the other hand, the share prices of SM Investments Corp., First Philippine Holdings Corp., Energy Development Corp., and Security Bank Corp. were unchanged.

Meanwhile, financial markets were hounded by concerns on fiscally troubled European nations Portugal, Spain, and Greece.