Stocks tumble; GDP growth in Q2 not enough to spur investors

Photo taken from pse.com.ph

MANILA, Philippines—Most local stocks tumbled Thursday after the release of the country’s second-quarter report and amid cautious sentiment ahead of a much-awaited speech by US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 46.41 points, or 0.89 percent, to close at 5,149.31, ending a two-day run-up ahead of the second quarter GDP report.

The second-quarter GDP grew by 5.9 percent, higher than the 5.5 percent medium consensus estimate in a Bloomberg poll, but slower than the revised growth of 6.3 percent in the first quarter.

“It was a matter of selling on news.  Furthermore, there is nothing to expect for third quarter. Meager July (government budget) deficit points to a slowdown,” said fund manager Gus Cosio, president of First Metro Asset Management.

All counters were in the red but the biggest declines were in the holding firm, mining/oil and property counters, which all fell by over 1 percent.

Value turnover was thin at P4.2 billion. There were 103 decliners, which overwhelmed 48 advancers.

Across the region, most stock markets also fell ahead of Bernanke’s speech before central bankers as investors awaited clues on further monetary easing by the US Fed.

The market was weighed down by index heavyweight PLDT (-1.4 percent), as well as by Metrobank, SMIC, AGI, Megaworld, AC, ALI, Cebu Air, BPI, AP and DMCI.

Among the index stocks that bucked the downtrend were URC, BDO and Globe. Security Bank also defied the market’s decline.