Stocks track regional weakness

Share prices fell Tuesday after several days in the green to track losses of other Asian bourses.

The main Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 14.78 points or 0.27 percent after testing record highs in the previous sessions to close at 5,455.92 points.

The broader all-shares index was up 2.89 points or 0.08 percent with 91 decliners outnumbering 69 advancers while 52 shares were unchanged.

Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. and Ayala Corp., the two most actively traded shares for the day, were down 1.89 percent and 1.56 percent, respectively. Market heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) also lost P20 or 0.77 percent.

Most sub-indices were in the red and only the industrial counter bucked the downturn after gaining 0.04 percent. The decline was led by mining and oil firms, which shed 1.49 percent.

Vulcan Industrial and Mining and Lepanto Consolidated Mining were among the top three decliners, losing 10.87 percent and 6.84 percent, respectively. Topping the list of gainers was San Miguel Properties Inc., which rose 27.27 percent.

Volume was at 3.43 billion shares valued at P4.2 billion.

The PSEi’s performance was in line with losses in the region amid reported delays in the European Union’s decision to bail out Greece. Paolo G. Montecillo