Philippine stocks down after IMF’s slower growth outlook for Asia

MANILA, Philippines—Local stocks were mostly down on Wednesday as the International Monetary Fund’s slower growth outlook for Asia added to investors’ jitters over the European debt contagion.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 15.53 points, or 0.37 percent, to close at 4,204.29 in thin trade.

“Taking its cue from big gains in Europe and a flat close in the US, the PSEi opened with a tentative 5-point rise to as much as 33 points to test the 4,250 interim resistance before profit-taking set in to take the measure even lower than the prior session’s close,” said Justino Calaycay, a dealer at local stock brokerage Accord Capital Equities Corp.

Calaycay also noted that the IMF had “added its authoritative voice to the cacophony of lower global growth outlook.”

In the case of the Philippines, the growth outlook was cut to 4.7 percent from the IMF’s earlier forecast of 4.9 percent in 2011.

All counters were down at the local stock market except for the mining/oil index, which managed to end slightly higher.

Value turnover was scant at P3.5 billion. There were only 58 gainers versus 80 decliners while 45 stocks were unchanged. Reflecting cautious global investor mood, there was P504 million in net foreign selling for the day.

The PSEi was weighed down most by SM Investments, EDC, AGI, BDO, PLDT, SM Prime and ALI.

Among the stocks that bucked the downtrend were NiHao, URC, Lepanto A (open only to local investors), Aboitiz Power, Metrobank, SMC, Security Bank, RCBC, ICTSI, DMCI, Dizon Copper and Lepanto B (open to local and foreign investors).