Shares close lower

A steep drop on Wall Street dragged local share prices down on Thursday.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) fell 0.67 percent, or 28.3 points, to 4,173.08 points. The broader all-share index dropped 0.0125 percent to 2,947.98 points as investors ignored news of the country gaining its long-awaited ratings upgrade from Moody’s Investor Service.

“The upgrade was already priced in by most investors. If you noticed, the move by Moody’s came very late,” Campos, Lanuza & Co. analyst Jose Mari Lacson said.

Moody’s upgrade cited the country’s improving fiscal situation, but this came later than the similar upgrade issued by Standard & Poor’s last November.

Lacson said local fund managers mostly took their cue from the Dow Jones Industrial Average in New York, which lost 1.48 percent, or 178.84 points, the night before.

Of all sub-indices, property and mining & oil shares were the only ones that bucked the downtrend, gaining 1.24 percent and 0.11 percent, respectively.

Decliners outnumbered advancers 60 to 65 while 46 were unchanged. About 2 billion shares changed hands for P5.17 billion.—Paolo G. Montecillo