Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Shares decline .6 percent amid anxiety over Wall Street's drop ( 3:00 p.m.)
MANILA -- Philippine shares declined Tuesday as investor sentiment took a hit after steep losses on Wall Street overnight.
But the fall was tempered by the Philippines inflation report for May, released shortly before trading began, showing consumer prices rising at a moderate pace and prompting the Central Bank to express confidence for keeping its current neutral policy stance, traders said.
The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 14.61 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,289.80, after Monday's 0.01 percent loss.
"We expected something a bit worse than this because of talk of a lowering of the Philippine government's tax target and comments made by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke," said AB Capital Securities research director Jose Vistan. "The May inflation data could have helped temper the decline. It was something positive for the market."
In May, consumer prices in the Philippines rose 6.9 percent on year, the National Statistics Office reported, slower than the 7.1 percent on-year rise during the previous month.
The news was a welcome development after the Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 1.8 percent Monday due to uncertainty over the fate of the US economy and interest rates.
Blue chip Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. was the most actively traded stock, shedding 0.5 percent to P1,990, spooked by the 3 percent loss suffered by the company's American depositary receipts.
Other stocks that incurred losses included Metropolitan Bank, which gave up 1.4 percent to close at P34.50, Ayala Corp., off 1.2 percent at P397.50, and SM Prime, down 1.2 percent at P8.10. (AP) |
