PHL stocks decline, buck bullish global trend

Philippine share prices declined on Thursday, bucking the generally upbeat mood across global markets. The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index slipped 42.49 points or 0.9833 percent to 4,278.83 while the all shares dropped 31.69 points or 1.013 percent to 3,096.73. Market breadth was also negative with 83 losers against 50 gainers and 39 stocks that closed unchanged. Save for Mining & Oil, which rose 0.837 percent, all other five sectoral indices closed in the red, led by Holding Firms' 1.58-percent slide and Property's 1.54-percent dip. Volume traded reached 1.749 billion valued at P4.787 billion. "The market remains in overbought territory although parallel indicators hint of a possible sideways movement...possibly through the rest of the week," said trader Justino Calaycay Jr. in a market outlook note for Accord Capital. Overnight, both the Dow Jones and Nasdaq posted gains on the back of a pronouncement from Ben Bernanke, U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, that the number of jobless Americans is expected to decrease. In Asia, majority of the bourses were trading higher, led by Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng. "Given the positive developments abroad, and a general rise in regional peers, the slide in domestic equity prices fell in line with technical suggestions," Calaycay added in an updated note. In the local market, Alliance Global Group Inc., the holding firm of businessman Andrew Tan, jumped P0.02 or 0.167 percent to P12. The issue was the day's top-traded. DMCI Holdings Inc. dipped P1 or 2.179 percent to P44.90. Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. lost P0.50 or 0.996 percent at P49.70 Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. shed P4 or 0.1622 percent at P2,462. Gaming firm Leisure & resorts World Corp. rose P0.18 or 1.6822 percent to P10.88. -- CMA/OMG, GMA News