Stocks down on Fed ‘taper’ concerns

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined to just above the 6,000 level Thursday, its third straight day in the red, as a positive jobs report in the United States again renewed concerns over a reduction, or tapering, of monetary stimulus by the Federal Reserve.

The PSEi was down 1.22 percent, or 74.28 points, to 6,030.95 while the broader all-shares index dipped 0.82 percent, or 30.55 points, to 3,703.06.

Stocks in the region were also down while Wall Street the night before ended mixed after the release of a report showed that 215,000 private sector jobs in the American economy were added last month, much higher than what was projected.

Still, volumes were relatively low with 861.93 million shares valued at P6.33 billion changing hands. Decliners led advancers, 95 to 56, while 39 companies were unchanged.

Sub-sectors were also mostly in the red, save for the industrial subindex, which rose 0.9 percent.

Decliners by this measure were led by services, which was down 1.47 percent, and holding firms, which dropped 1.41 percent. They were

followed by mining and oil (-1.2 percent ), property (-1 percent ) and financials (-0.85 percent).

Bucking the downtrend Thursday was broadcast firm GMA Network Inc., which has been rising over the last four sessions, and gained as much as 11.9 percent. It pared gains to 4.63 percent to P8.37 a share as businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan denied his group was buying shares of GMA, according to a television network.

Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. was the most actively traded as it declined 0.92 percent to 75 a share.

This was followed by Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (-3.11 percent to P2,620), Universal Robina Corp. (flat at P119.10), JG Summit Holdings (-3.58 percent to P37.70) and Ayala Corp. (+0.34 percent to P584). Miguel R. Camus