PH shares down on US data

MANILA, Philippines–Most local stocks took a beating for the second straight session as investors on Wall Street and others across the region were unnerved by sluggish US data.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 57.37 points, or 0.73 percent, to close at 7,816.27.

The market was weighed down most by the industrial and services counters, which both slipped by over 1 percent. On the other hand, the property and mining/oil counters were unscathed, both modestly bucking the downtrend.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P13 billion. There were twice as many decliners for every single gainer.

URC and AGI dropped by over 2 percent while investors also sold down BPI, EDC, GTCAP, RLC and Globe which all fell by over 1 percent.

BDO, the most actively traded stock, also weighed down the market as it fell by 0.72 percent. SMIC, Metrobank, Semirara, Megaworld and ICTSI also traded lower.–Doris Dumlao-Abadilla