Philippine Markets: 20 January 2011

20 January 2011

USD/PhP: 44.50 + 0.24 PSEi: 4006.24 - 33.32
USD/JPY: 82.16 PFINC: 907.55 - 4.46
EUR/USD: 1.3432 BDO: 54.95 - 0.25
GBP/USD: 1.5934 BPI: 57.00 - 0.25
PDSTF3M: 2.7091 MBT: 62.80 + 0.05
Prices as of 4:00pm Source: Bloomberg, Reuters


Local stock prices continue to slide
By Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—Local stock prices tumbled further on Thursday as the sluggish investor sentiment seen in the last two days was aggravated by an overnight pullback in US equities.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost another 33.32 points or 0.82 percent to 4,006.24 as profit-taking continued to dominate the market alongside jitters concerning the capital gains tax. The market is wary of a prospective rise in interest rates as Asian countries face rising inflation.

Risk appetite has also been dampened by the Bureau of Internal Revenue's order to slap a 5-10 percent capital gains tax on shares of companies that fall below the minimum public float requirement.

The day's decline was led by the interest rate-sensitive property sector, which slumped by 2.8 percent as investors sold down Megaworld Corp. and Ayala Land Inc.

The industrial counter was likewise down by 1.1 percent.

Only the services counter bucked the downtrend.

There were 87 decliners, which outnumbered 56 advancers, while 34 stocks were unchanged.

Value turnover amounted to P5.3 billion.

Other stocks that fell on heavy volume were Aboitiz Power Corp., Manila Electric Co., International Container Terminal Services Inc., Jollibee Foods Corp., Universal Robina Corp., SM Investments Corp., Leisure & Resorts World Corp., Bank of the Philippine Islands, DMCI Holdings Inc. and Energy Development Corp.

Among the stocks that stayed afloat were Alliance Global Group Inc., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Cebu Air Inc., Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, APC Group Inc. and Nickel Asia Corp.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Index shed 12.64 points or 0.11 percent to 11,825.29 while the broader-based S&P500 and Nasdaq indices succumbed to the worst selldown seen in two months.