Local share prices push past 3,300-mark but end slightly down

Local share prices breached the 3,300 psychological level, but closed slightly down during flat trading on Wednesday. The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 0.21 point or less than 0.01 percent to 3,299.69, a correction expected by traders. The correction took place despite Wall Street’s slight gain overnight, and good news on the local front. Brokerage 2TradeAsia said the fall had been limited by improved liquidity in the local financial system. The Dow Jones industrial average extended its push past 11,000 points, gaining 13 points on Tuesday. This and the peso’s rise to a fresh 20-month high on Tuesday, as well as news of exports’ continued surge in February, were not enough to prevent the correction. The composite index opened at 3,302.3 points and went as high as 3,312.95. Foreign investors bought P47.77 million more worth of stocks than they sold. Gainers beat losers 67 to 37, while 67 stocks were unchanged. Volume reached 1.29 billion stocks worth P3.6 billion, with two of the six subindices going down. Property stocks went down by 1.87 percent or 22.94 points to 1,202.84, while the financial index kshed 0.51 percent or 3.64 points to 704.38. On the other hand, holding firms went up by 1.34 percent or 27.96 points to 2,116.25, while mining and oil stocks gained 0.67 percent or 63.42 points to 9,550.46. The industrial index also added 0.61 percent or 30.37 points to 5,018.87. The service index was unchanged at 1,496.41. Almost half of the 20 most active stocks were steady, led by Metropolitan Bank and Trust C0. (P51.50), Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (P2,525) and Megaworld Corp. (P1.44). Ayala Corp. lost P2.50 to P345, while unit Ayala Land, Inc. shed 50 centavos to P13.50. Manila Electric Co. also slid by a peso to P176. On the other hand, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. gained p1.25 to P16.50, while Manila Water Co., Inc. added 25 centavos to P15.75. Philippine National Bank gained 50 centavos to P33, while First Philippine Holdings Corp. inched up by 50 centavos to P58.50. — N.P. Aquino, GMANews.TV