PHL share prices drop for 3rd straight day

Philippine share prices slid for the third straight session Tuesday amid continued worries over the US recovery. The market's negative showing also came following the government's announcement on Tuesday that inflation rose to a 13-month high of 4.5 percent in May, although at low-end of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas initial estimate of between 4.5 percent and 5.5 percent. The main Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 22.45 points or 0.53 percent at 4,236.45 while the all shares lost 11.96 points or 0.40 percent at 2,985.62. Losers outnumbered gainers, 78 to 54, while 39 stocks closed unchanged. Four of the six sub-indices closed in the red, with Services and Property declining 1.51 percent and 1.16 percent, respectively. Volume traded reached 2.88 billion shares valued at P3.93 billion. "The continued weakness of the Dow, however, will weigh the PSEi down. Concerns about the US economy are the main cause of the recent drops made by US markets," said Prince Anthony Yeung of AB Capital. Overnight, the Dow Jones gave up 0.5 percent, while tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 1.11 percent. In the region, markets were mixed with Japan, New Zealand and Taiwan trading higher, while Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea were bearish. Last Friday, Wall Street closed sharply lower as investors digested the grim news of rising unemployment in the US, the latest indicator that showed a stalling recovery for the world’s largest economy. In the local bourse, four of the five most active stocks retreated. Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the session's top traded, slipped P40 or 1.71 percent to P2,300. Diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. dropped P0.40 or 0.34 percent to P116.10. Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. bucked the trend, rising P0.03 or 3.45 percent to P0.90. Property giant Ayala Land Inc. stumbled P0.34 or 2.21 percent to P15.02. Holding firm Alliance Global Group Inc. slumped P0.09 or 0.90 percent to P9.90. -- CMA/OMG, GMA News