PSEi plunges anew over euro debt, US economy

Philippine share prices suffered another sharp fall on Monday as world leaders continued to grapple for measures to yank Europe out of its debt crisis and the US from its sluggish economy. The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index plunged 164.74 points or 4.24 percent to 3,721.22 while the all shares slumped 81.72 points or 2.94 percent. The Monday's close of the PSEi brought the bellwether index some 18-percent lower from its 4,550.53-percent record high last month. Losers trumped gainers, 171 to 23, while 24 stocks closed unchanged. All six sub-indices retreated, with Mining & Oil giving up 8.22 percent. The other five sectoral indices posted losses of between 3.05 percent and 4.61 percent. Volume traded reached 9.39 billion valued at P5.28 billion, prompting aversion to riskier assets such as equities. External uncertainties remained the main worries of investors. "Europe's fiscal problems currently concentrated on growing fears of a Greece-default has taken center stage for the most part of the year and is seen to be at the core of investors' concerns for the balance of the year...The US is not much of a different footing. A few months ago, the Obama government managed to squeeze Congressional support to pass a measure extending its borrowing ceiling, an issue that threatened to put government to a stand-still. Many are of the belief that politics, particularly the November 2012 fever, is beginning to overpower economic considerations," said trader Justino Calaycay Jr. of Accord Capital Equities. On Friday, Wall Street posted modest gains with the Dow rising 0.35 percent and Nasdaq adding 1.12 percent. The gains may be short-lived, however, as Futures indicated a lower open for the Dow later. Meanwhile, despite a pledge of G-20 officials to provide support to the markets on Monday, the lack of details on their statement failed to prevent investors in the Asian market to dump stocks. As of mid-session Monday, all bourses were trading lower with losses of between 0.50 percent and 3.84 percent. In the local bourse, all five most active stocks for the day closed in the red. Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. "A", the day's top traded, declined P0.06 or 5.17 percent to P1.10. Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. shed P50 or 2.33 percent at P2,100. Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. dropped P1.95 or 3.14 percent to P60.10, while rival Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. slipped P2.25 r 4.64 percent to P46.25. Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. slid P3.30 or 6.73 percent to P45.70. - CMA/OMG, GMA News