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Monday, March 21, 2005
RP shares end lower ahead of long Easter break (2:12 p.m.)
MANILA -- Philippine shares closed down Monday, failing to sustain gains made early in the session as investors played safe and lightened holdings ahead of the long Easter break, traders said.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index ended down 16.50 points, or 0.8 percent, at 2,033.78, adding to Friday's 2.4 percent loss.
Financial markets will close Wednesday afternoon for the Easter holiday.
Newly listed Manila Water was the most actively traded stock. It managed to end unchanged at P6.90.
Weighing on the index was blue-chip Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., which fell 0.7 percent to P1,430, in step with the 0.9 percent loss suffered by the company's American Depository Receipts on Friday.
Other active stocks were SM Prime, down 3.8 percent at P7.70; Ayala Corp., down 1.3 percent at P7.80; and Manila Electric B, lower by 3.5 percent at P28.
Bucking the market downturn were Semirara, up 11 percent at P40 and First Holdings, up 3.6 percent at P57.50 on bargain hunting.
All sectoral indicators finished lower, except the banks and financial services subindex, which ended higher on gains in Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 0.9 percent at P57.50 and Philippine National Bank, higher by 4.3 percent at P36.50.
Decliners led gainers 60 to 22, while 45 stocks were unchanged.
Security has been tightened across the country to thwart retaliatory attacks after the deaths of some leaders of the al-Qaida linked Abu Sayyaf terror group in a siege at a high-security Manila jail last week.
Tuesday's scheduled listing of holding concern SM Investments may have also prompted some investors to liquidate some of their holdings, said Citiseconline.com investment analyst Mark Alan Canizares.
"Some investors may want to have ready funds to buy the stock once it lists," he said.
Investor sentiment was also damped by the delay in the passage of amendments to the value added tax law at the Senate, traders said. (AP) |
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