Most PH stock prices dip

MANILA, Philippines – Local stock prices faltered on Friday amid gloomy global markets but the decline was not as dramatic as that on Wall Street, which triggered new fears of a recession in the United States.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 63.64 points or 1.44 percent to finish at 4,339.90, as jitters spilled over from the 419-point fall in the US’ Dow Jones Industrial Index on Thursday.

Due to gains earlier this week, however, the PSEi managed to stay 0.4 percent higher than its finish Friday last week. The index is also still ahead by 3.3 percent from its end-2010 level.

All local counters traded in the red on Friday, even the mining/oil sub-index, which was buoyant early in the session, closed in negative territory.

“Local investors dumped equities, sending the index briefly under the support line, before some stability entered to cushion the sell-off. It was nonetheless a negative breadth session with the PSE index drawing a similar story read across the Asia Pacific region,” said Justino Calaycay Jr., a dealer at Accord Capital Equities Corp.

“Obviously, recession fears will not go away easily notwithstanding a pledge from the US Fed to keep rates low for an extended time while Europe continues to search for answers to stem a possible contagion of the fiscal crisis that befell Greece and company,” Calaycay said.

Turnover at the local bourse was thin at P4.62 billion.

There were only 44 advancers against 115 decliners while 26 stocks were unchanged.

The index was weighed down most by Metrobank, PLDT, EDC, Lepanto B (open to both local and foreign investors), Megaworld, Banco de Oro, Aboitiz Power, AGI, Ayala Corp., ICTSI, URC, Metro Pacific Investments and DMCI.  Likewise sold down for the day were non-index stocks San Miguel Corp., Leisure & Resorts and Atlas.

Index heavyweight PLDT lost P14 or 0.59 percent to P2,332 on signals that its head honcho Manuel V. Pangilinan was getting impatient with the regulatory obstacles to the closure of its Digitel buyout deal.

Boulevard Holdings landed on the list of actively traded stocks for the day following the announcement of its acquisition of a 21-hectare new resort community.  It started out favorably but succumbed to profit-taking at closing.