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LOCAL share prices closed lower Tuesday as investors took profits
after a seven-day advance, dealers said.
The composite index shed 14.84 points to
2,969.83, bouncing off a low of 2,956.95. The all-share index fell
6.07 points or 0.3 percent to 1,821.04.
Volume totaled 1.11 billion shares valued at
P2.8 billion. Decliners led advancers 50 to 31, while 63 were
steady.
The peso traded at 41.7 to the dollar.
“A pullback does not come as a surprise
considering the market has gained more than 200 points in the last
seven sessions,” said Rommel Macapagal, chairman of Westlink
Global Equities.
Stocks ended on a three-week high Monday, after
staging a technical rally.
Still, the key index fell 17.6 percent for the
entire first quarter of the year, the worst performance in more than
five years over persistent worries about the US economy.
Some analysts said they were not convinced that
the market could sustain its rally given the relatively low turnover
and lingering concerns about rising inflation and recession in the
US.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT),
the country’s biggest company by market value, was down P40 at
P2,775.
PLDT rival Globe Telecom Inc. fell P5.00 to
P1,500.
Ayala Corp fell P2.50 to P392.50.
Ayala Land, the country’s biggest property
developer, rose 25 centavos to P11.00 after announcing it had sold
three wholly owned units to rival Megaworld Corp for P902 million.
Megaworld, the second-biggest developer,
recovered from early weakness to close steady at P2.46.
Food and drinks conglomerate San Miguel Corp’s
A-shares, reserved for Filipinos, fell P1.00 to P45.50. Its
B-shares, which have no ownership restriction, lost P1.50 to P46.50.
-- AFP
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