Philippine stocks dragged down by Euro debt issues, dull Wall St. trading
MANILA, Philippines—Local share prices fell for the fourth straight day on Tuesday, settling to its lowest point since April, as Europe’s debt woes and lackluster trading on Wall Street kept risk aversion high.
The main Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) settled at 4,140.27 points on Tuesday, 31.27 points, or 0.75-percent lower than the day before.
The broader all-shares index likewise fell 0.69 percent to 2,926.01 points as nearly all sub-indices ended in the red. The services index bucked the day’s trend, closing 0.20 percent higher.
Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. was the day’s most actively traded issue, closing 1.10 percent to P112 apiece. Other big losers were BDO (3.08 percent), AGI (2.13 percent), DMC (1.86 percent) and BPI (0.08 percent).
Breaking the index’s psychological support-level of 4,200 weighed on investor confidence for the day, with no help in the form of good news coming from abroad, a local trader said.
On Wall Street, the DJIA closed flat, gaining just 0.01 percent. London’s FTSE, meanwhile, closed just 0.13 percent the night before.
“Breaking its support level triggers further selling overall. Certain index components are also in danger of breaking their support, which would add to the downward pressure,” Prince Yeung of AB Capital Online said.
“Market movement and sentiment today indicates that there will be more selling in the coming days. The market is currently undergoing a difficult period, but the medium to long-term outlook remains positive,” he said.
