PHL shares drop on bad news from US, Asia, Europe

Shares on the Philippines Stock Exchange (PSE) dropped in active trading Tuesday, emerging from a three-day weekend with bad news from the US, Asia, and Europe. The PSE index (PSEi) dropped 99.88 points or 2.46 percent to close at 3,953.70. More than 1.44 billion shares valued at P8.41 billion changed hands. Losers led gainers 100 to 36, with 29 issues unchanged. Monday was a non-working holiday and Philippine markets were closed. This is all part of the correction phase of the market, aggravated by the military conflict between North and South Korea, said Harry Liu, president of Summit Securities Inc. The US market is down and investors are having a bout of risk aversion with the European debt crisis, said Jasper Jimenez, a trader of BDO Securities Inc. Many of the actively traded Philippine shares are hitting their recent lows, Jimenez added. "The market is heading toward an oversold situation, with the PSEi support at 3,950," Liu said. This could also mean that the market would soon see buyers coming in, with companies "window dressing" their books at the end of the year," Liu added. VS/TJD, GMANews.TV