Shares fall on worry of possible suit vs Ayala over mall blast (6:38 p.m.)
MANILA — Philippine stocks fell Wednesday, partly due to worries over a possible legal suit against Ayala Land Inc. in connection with last week’s deadly shopping mall explosion.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropped 0.6 percent to 3,758.97 points.
Ayala Land, which operates the four-mall Glorietta complex in the financial district of Makati, fell 6.3 percent to P15.
“Profit-taking would have been less severe if not for the concern over Ayala,” said Jose Vistan, research head at AB Capital Securities. The property developer accounted for two-thirds of the index’s drop, he noted.
A blast at the Glorietta 2 mall last Friday killed 11 people and wounded more than 100 others. Police say the explosion appears to have been caused by methane gas and diesel vapor accidentally ignited in the mall’s basement.
Wednesday was the last trading day for the holiday week. Analysts say the market closure on Thursday and Friday for All Saints’ Day spurred profit-taking in moderately heavy volume. Monday was a holiday for nationwide village elections.
Other losers included Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., down 0.3 percent to P3,005, and Globe Telecom, off 0.9 percent to P1,700.
Gainers led decliners 58 to 44 with 57 stocks unchanged.
The peso surged to a fresh seven-year high against the dollar Wednesday on expectations of a possible cut in US rates and a likely increase in remittances from overseas Filipinos during the extended weekend.
The dollar closed at P43.675, down from P43.85 Tuesday. It’s the lowest close for the greenback since it ended at P43.535 on July 4, 2000. (AP)
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