Local market pulls back after advancing for five days

The Philippine stock market bucked the US bourse’s positive performance in the end-of-week trade, with subindices dropping across the board.   “The market over-hit the resistant level. We saw a correction and profit-taking this day even when the US market was up," Harry Liu of Summit Securities said in an interview.   The local stock index fell 52.65 points or 1.68 percent to 3,072.91, with the broader all-share index dropping 22.2 points or 1.13 percent to 1,931.02.   Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average added 44 points, while Standard and Poor’s 500 index inched up 5 points. The NASDAQ composite, meanwhile, went up 3 points.   “We expect a rally up to the 3,150 to 3200 level, with a low side of 2,900. In the next few months leading to the Holy Week, we expect the market to move sideways," Liu said.   On the local front, the subindices’ uniform drop was led by service stocks, closing 55.02 points or 3.56 percent lower to 1,492.51.   Likewise, industrial stocks shed 86.95 points or 1.81 percent to 4,716.05, followed by financial stocks which lost 3.15 points or 0.48 percent to 648.52.   Mining and oil stocks, meanwhile, lost 26.24 or 0.28 percent to 9,390.02.   Each dropping 0.21 percent, property stocks lost 2.27 points to 1,061.32, while holding firms finished off 3.83 points lower to 1,819.04.   A total of 1.34 billion stocks worth P2.3 billion changed hands, with losers beating gainers 58 to 28, with 75 steady.   Real estate company Sta. Lucia Land, Inc. was the day’s biggest gainer, closing 14 percent higher at 80 centavos per share.   Active Alliance, Inc., the day’s biggest loser, shed 29.17 points to close at P5.10 apiece.   Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. dropped P120 to P2,560 apiece as the market factored in its cash dividend declaration. Early this month, PLDT said it was giving out regular and special cash dividends worth P141 per share to existing stockholders as of March 17. The announcement drove PLDT shares to rise during the past weeks, reaching an intraday high of P2,695 per share. - OMG, GMANews.TV