Philippine stocks slip for 2nd day

MANILA, Philippines—Most local stock prices tumbled for a second straight session on Wednesday as fears of slower economic growth in China and a disorderly debt default by Greece heightened global risk aversion.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 46.03 points, or 0.93 percent, to 4,921.36. All counters ended in the red except for the mining/oil counter, which firmed up slightly.

The index hit a new all-time high of 5,030.58 on Monday, driven by strong foreign buying. But as the index soared by 15 percent since the start of the year, most fund managers appeared glad to see some pullback in order to buy more stocks at a cheaper level.

The worst hit was the property counter, which fell by 1.8 percent, as investors saw an opportunity to lock up gains from property issues, most of which have performed well since the start of the year.

Turnover was higher at P7.9 billion from the previous day’s P5.99 billion.

There were 61 advancers against 108 decliners while 40 stocks were unchanged.

The main index was dragged down by PLDT, AP, AGI, Metrobank, AC, SMIC, BDO, ALO, Megaworld, Meralco and SM Prime.

On the other hand, investors bought other index stocks like DMCI, EDC, AEV, BPI and Semirara, thereby curbing the PSEi’s decline on Wednesday.

Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities Inc., said stocks would seasonally weaken closer to the Ides of March. He said 4,800 would be the next strong support level for the index while 4,900 was not likely to hold up well in this correction.

The sell-off on Wednesday did not come as a surprise given the bleak trading on Wall Street overnight. The Dow Jones industrial average gave up 203.66 points, or 1.57 percent, to close at 12,759.15 on Tuesday, spooked by prospects of a disorderly Greek default and slower economic growth in China.