Most local stock prices weaken

MANILA, Philippines—Local stock prices tumbled on Wednesday amid profit-taking as rising concerns over the US economy sent stock prices on Wall Street plummeting overnight.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 52.78 points or 1.16 percent to 4,488,45.

All counters traded in the red except for the mining/oil sector which remained afloat on a combination of robust earnings and merger and acquisition plays.  The financial, industrial and holding firm counters were hit the hardest, declining by over 1 percent.

Turnover amounted to P5.34 billion.  There were only 33 advancers against 126 decliners while 31 stocks were unchanged.

EDC, Megaworld, AGI, URC, First Gen, FLI, Aboitiz Power, SM Prime and Metrobank dragged down the index. There was likewise profit-taking on non-index stocks Atlas, Zeus, Semirara and San Miguel Corp.

Meanwhile, mining stocks Lepanto “A” and “B” and Philex tempered the PSEi’s losses.  Lepanto is expected to announce a report confirming the reserves of its Far Southeast mining project in Mankayan, Benguet.  ORE and Basic Energy likewise went up on heavy volume.

CitisecOnline head of research April Lee-Tan said the local market’s decline was partly due to the weak overnight sentiment in the US.  At the same time, she said, many stocks were now in technically overbought levels.

Overnight, the US Dow Jones Industrial Index slid by 265.87 points or 2.19 percent to 11,866.62 due to a string of weak economic reports and disappointing earnings reports from several big companies.