Local stocks slide on renewed global recession fears

LOCAL STOCKS faltered yesterday amid gloomy global markets but the decline was not as dramatic as the overnight bloodbath in Wall Street that, in turn, was triggered by renewed US recession fears.

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

Due to the gains earlier this week, however, the PSEi managed to edge higher by 0.4 percent from 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 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 selloff. 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.

Value turnover at the local bourse was thin at P4.62 billion. Doris C. Dumlao