Stocks continue to weaken

The local stock barometer succumbed to further profit-taking Tuesday, but stayed above the 6,000 support, tracking the jittery sentiment on emerging markets ahead of a crucial US Federal Reserve meeting.

Pulling back for the second straight session, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 58.8 points or 0.97 percent to close at 6,022.81.

All counters ended in the red but the worst hit were the holding firm, mining/oil and property sub-indices, which fell more than 1 percent.

The Federal Open Market Committee is set to meet Jan. 28 to 29 to decide on whether further cuts to the monetary stimulus will be done. This week’s Fed meeting, the first for the year, will also be the last to be presided by Chair Ben Bernanke. Janet Yellen is set to take over this post.

Meanwhile, the emerging market turmoil has likewise been aggravated by fears of a liquidity crunch in China.

Value turnover in the local market thinned out to P5.74 billion from about P7 billion in the last few days. There were twice as many decliners for every single gainer in the market. Doris C. Dumlao