Local stock index falters amid cautious sentiment

MANILA, Philippines—Most local stock prices faltered on Wednesday as profit-taking pressure prevailed over yearend window-dressing while mixed economic data from the US and Japan curbed fresh risk-taking.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 24.8 points or 0.57 percent to 4,336.63.  Despite the profit-taking in the last two sessions, however, the local stock barometer was still ahead by 136.63 points or 3.25 percent since the start of this year.

All counters traded lower, especially the property sub-index which dropped by 1.38 percent.

Sentiment was cautious across the region due to mixed bag of economic news in developed economies.

Japan reported sluggish industrial output last month although expectations for this month and the next are more favorable.  In the US, consumer confidence jumped to an eight-month high but euphoria was curbed by the decline in home prices in most of its cities.  The Dow Jones Industrial Index dipped marginally on Tuesday, shedding 2.65 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 12,291.35.

Turnover at the local market on Wednesday amounted to P3.98 billion.

There were 60 advancers against 86 decliners while 47 stocks were unchanged.

The stocks that weighed down the index the most were BDO, First Gen, PLDT, AGI, ALI, Metrobank, Semirara and BPI. FLI also lost ground.

On the other hand, index losses were tempered by the gains of Aboitiz Power, ICTSI and Globe Telecom.  Non-index issue NiHao was also up in active trade.

PAL Holdings, whose shares surged on Tuesday, was still up by 0.86 percent to P7.03 on news that San Miguel Corp. was in talks to invest in Philippine Airlines.

On the other hand, GMA7 shares were down by 0.46 percent as rumors about Manuel V. Pangilinan’s prospective takeover fizzled out.