Local stock market falters following decline on Wall Street

PSE index as of 03:46 PM, October 24, 2013

MANILA, Philippines — Most local stock prices slipped on Thursday, dragging the main index below the 6,600 level as investors locked up gains following an overnight decline in US stocks.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 51.34 points or 0.77 percent to close at 6,583.77. Elsewhere in the region, trading was muted by the overnight weakness in Wall Street, in turn attributed to a disappointing stream of US corporate earnings.

Turnover  was thin at P5.82 billion. There were only 45 advancers against by 100 decliners while 38 stocks were unchanged.

The property counter was the day’s most battered sub-index (-1.64 percent). Other counters slipped except for the mining/oil counter, which  firmed up slightly.

Dealers said the run-up past 6,600 had lured profit-taking in the market.

The day’s biggest index lagger was Petron (-3.26 percent), followed by SM Prime, SMC and AP which all fell by over 2 percent. DMCI, ALI, RLC, URC, Megaworld and Globe declined by over 1 percent.

On the other hand, the day’s biggest gainer was Philex (+2.3 percent), bouncing from Wednesday’s decline.

Among non-index stocks, those that rose sharply in heavy volume were Emperador (+4.29 percent), Melco Crown (+3.45 percent) and Phil. Seven (+6.12 percent).

Emperador announced on Thursday a deal to buy more vineyard land in Spain and to enter the Vietnamese market by next year.

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