RP shares slip on 'silent trading' day

Philippine share prices were sluggish on Wednesday as investors and traders attributed this to the absence of market-moving issues. "There's really no market-moving news," said Jasper Jimenez, a trader of Banco de Oro Securities Inc. The Philippine Stock Exchange ended at 3,522.72, a 3.17-point or 0.09-percent drop. Indices of holding firms, property, industrial and mining/oil sectors also fell, while the financials and services sectors were on the green. More than 1.423 billion shares valued at P720 million were traded. Decliners led advancers 81 to 53, with 35 issues unchanged. Jimenez said the Philippine market "did not react" when the Federal Reserve earlier said it needs to boost the US economy because growth will be more modest than anticipated. Narrow trading seems to be the trend and we are bound to make small moves in the next days, he said. Jimenez said investors might take this chance to find pockets of opportunity in some stocks and take profits while they can in such "narrow and silent trading." "Historically, August is the month for the market," Jimenez added, saying that fund managers are usually on vacation and most of the Chinese traders refrain from participating in the market during this month. —JE/OMG, GMANews.TV