Local stocks decline, mirror US market drop

After days of listless trading, local stocks dropped 2% on Friday after US President Barack Obama's call for tougher rules for US banks spooked Wall Street. The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) main index shed 62.11 points or 2.01%, closing at 3,023.47 with 1.3 billion shares valued at P3.18 billion. "The market reacted strongly to the US market's big drop," explained analyst Emmanuel Soller of Equitiworld Securities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a 213-point drop on Thursday (Friday morning in Manila), its lowest in months. Soller maintained that the change in the local market is "not crucial," although he admitted it was an indication of pessimism on the investors' part. Despite the market's drop, Soller predicted a recovery on Monday. "The local market just followed the US market today, although there is no big reason for it to fall because of the absence of significant domestic fundamentals," explained Soller. All shares index dropped 24.56 points or 1.27% to close at 1,906.89. Financial stocks suffered the biggest blow, going down 22.52 points or 3.38% to 644.09. This was followed by the industrial index, dropping 123.92 points or 2.64% to close at 4,577.82. Property stocks slid 24.30 points or 2.29%, closing at 1,038.19%, followed by holding firms with a 30.64-point drop, or 1.88% to 1,600.15. The mining and oil sector fell 86.82 points or 0.82% to 10,456.38 index points. Finally, the services sector registered a drop of 8.30 points or 0.54% to close at 1,541.06 index points. The Philippine National Oil Company's A stocks were the day's top gainer, up by 50% to P20.25 apiece. Meanwhile, Mabuhay Vinyl Corporation suffered the most, sliding 18.18% to close at P0.90 per share. - OMG, GMANews.TV