| Foreign buying tempers fall of PH stocks By Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Local stocks opened in the red on Monday due to ripples from the devastating earthquake in Japan, but large bargain hunting by foreign investors trimmed overall losses. The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index dipped by 5.65 points, or 0.144 percent, to 3,918.70. Accord Capital Equities said the market "overcame a poor start that pulled the index 36 points lower at the open, apparently feeling the aftershocks of the quake that shook northeastern Japan last week." The day's losses were tempered by the modest gains posted by the industrial, holding firms and mining/oil counters. On the other hand, the financial, property and services counters took the brunt of the bears. Value turnover stood at P5.2 billion, with 64 decliners narrowly edging out 53 advancers. There was P2 billion in net foreign buying that supported local equities despite the fallout from Japan. The stocks that fell on heavy volume were Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Metorbank, PLDT, Aboitiz Power, Ayala Land, Megaworld, Cebu Air, ICTSI and Southeast Asia Cement. AGI, EDC, SM Investments, First Gen, DMCI, Ayala Corp., FPH, Banco de Oro, Nickel Asia and Vista Land bucked the day's downtrend. "The market is obviously still trying to assess the impact of Japan's worst natural disaster in the post-war period," Accord Capital said. | 
