Philippine stocks slightly dip in late selling

MANILA, Philippines—Local share prices closed hardly changed on Tuesday, ending just slightly in the red for the second day in a row as late selling erased the gains in morning trade.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 4.76 points, or 0.09 percent, to close at 5,186.05, tracking the movement of other Asian markets due to the lack of leads locally.

“Investors groped for form throughout the session, taking back early gains of as much as 15 points,” said Jun Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. “Asian markets also traded lower, once more dragged by concerns over Europe’s progress in finding both a short-term and lasting solution to the crisis.”

Sectoral indices were mixed at the end of trading, with mining and oil shares gaining 3.9 percent with the government’s release of the implementing rules and regulations for the administration’s new mining policy.

The day’s list of top gainers was dominated by Lepanto Mining’s “A” and “B” shares, which rose 10.62 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively. Also on the list of top gainers were mining firm Atok-Big Wedge (10.16 percent), Zeus Holdings (8.75 percent), Oriental Petroleum (5.88 percent) and Abra Mining (4.44 percent).

The day’s most active share was market heavyweight PLDT, which rose 0.43 percent.