Philippine stocks slightly up on lingering Euro fiscal woes

MANILA, Philippines—Local stocks were only a tad higher on Tuesday as investors lacked incentive to load up on equities given lingering fiscal woes in Europe.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 6.28 points, or 0.15 percent, to finish at 4,282.62.  The uncertainties created by the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, an initiative backed by President Aquino, had little impact on the market.

The industrial counter, which surged by 1 percent, kept the local market in positive territory. The holding firm and mining/oil counters were likewise slightly up, compensating for the slack in the property and services counters.

Value turnover amounted to P4.22 billion. There were 56 advancers, which were beaten by 97 decliners, while 50 stocks were unchanged.

The index was led higher by First Gen, BDO, Meralco, Metrobank, BPI, AGI and EDC.

Aside from First Gen and Meralco, another Lopez stock FPH was likewise up in heavy trade. Meralco has announced its divestment of a majority stake in property developer Rockwell Land Corp. via property dividend declaration. Rockwell will afterwards list on the PSE by way of introduction (or without any public offering of shares) and become a subsidiary of FPH.

Lepanto A (open only to local) and B (open to all) also traded briskly alongside Security Bank.

On the other hand, the index was led lower by Megaworld, PLDT, ICTSI, DMCI, SM Investments, URC, ALI, Ayala Corp. and RLC.

Asked whether the impeachment proceedings in Congress had any effect on Tuesday’s trading, Bank of the Philippine Islands senior vice president Paul Joseph Garcia said: “Not much but, definitely, this political act of impeachment may affect sentiment negatively.”

“Overall, it won’t impact market fundamentals as much as domestic growth concerns and external issues like the European debt crisis and sluggish US growth,” the fund manager said.

Across the region, sentiment was cautious as the recent European Union Summit was seen to have failed in drawing up a lasting solution to the fiscal contagion. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Index faltered by 162.87 points, or 1.34 percent, to 12,021.39.