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LOCAL share prices closed down to a fresh 22-month
low on Wednesday as high oil prices fueled more fears of a surge in
domestic inflation, dealers said.
The composite index lost 21.35
points to 2,393.90, the day’s low. The all share index dropped
13.76 points to 1,531.28.
Seventy-two issues declined, 25
advanced, and 46 were unchanged.
Turnover fell to P2.4 billion
compared with P3.674 billion on Tuesday.
The peso also fell to 45.200 to
the dollar, with trading volume sliding to $608.6 million from the
previous day’s $811.5 million. The local currency slid to the
45-to-a-dollar level on Tuesday.
“It’s the same old story. Oil
prices remain the market’s main concern,” Ron Rodrigo of DBP-Daiwa
Securities told Dow Jones Newswires.
He said the market could fall
some more should crude oil prices extend their rise, and put the
support level at 2,350 points.
However, “an investor with a
long-term view should see this as an opportunity to start buying,”
Rodrigo said.
Property and bank scrips led the
fall ahead of the release on Friday of June inflation data, which
economists say should hit double-digits for first time in almost 10
years after rising to 9.6 percent in the previous month.
Ayala Land Inc. fell 6.5 percent
to P8.70 while Megaworld Corp. was off 1.7 percent to P1.18.
Bank of the Philippine Islands
dropped to P43 while Philippine Long Distance Telephone rose 0.2
percent to P2,355 on a technical recovery.
San Miguel Corp. A and B shares
both ended unchanged at P40.
--AFP
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