Friday, December 28, 2007
Philippine stock index drops 1.3 percent after fall on Wall Street; still ends year higher (2:41 p.m.)
MANILA -- Philippine shares slid Friday, the last day of local trading in 2007, as investors took profit after a sharp fall on Wall Street overnight.
The main Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 46.04 points, or 1.3 percent, to 3,621.60. Blue chips led losers after recent gains.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. shed 0.2 percent to 3,175 pesos. Rival Globe Telecom Inc. dropped 1.9 percent to 1,570 pesos.
Property developer Megaworld Corp. fell 7.4 percent to 3.75 pesos, and mall operator SM Prime Holdings Inc. dropped 6.8 percent to 10.25 pesos.
Despite Friday's losses, the main index still ended 2007 - a year that saw the bourse hit a record high in October - with a 21.4 percent gain that put it among the best performers in Asia.
"Overall, we're still upbeat at least for the first quarter of 2008," said Grace Cerdena, head of operations at 2TradeAsia.com. Concerns over the U.S. economy and rising oil prices are among the major threats to investor confidence, she said. (AP) |
