PHL shares close mixed on profit-taking, selective buying

Philippine shares ended the week on a mixed note of sentiment, as profit-taking dragged the main Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lower and selective buying helped more issues post gains. The PSEi declined by 32.23 points or 0.74 percent to close at 4,302.43. Gainers led losers 76 to 68 and 42 issues closed unchanged. More than 3.578 billion shares were traded valued at P4.966 billion. “The market is down a bit, but not that bad," said Mark Angeles, research chief of First Metro Securities Brokerage Corp. Angeles noted that developments overseas, particularly on Wall Street, continued to influence the market, saying market sentiment is mainly driven by developments in the US and the Euro debt crisis. Buoying selected Philippine stocks are inflows from foreign buyers, Firs Metro Securities’ research head explained. He said these selected issues — more than 30 stocks across the board — will soon be part of the MSCI Philippines and The MSCI is an index of world stocks maintained by MSCI Inc., formerly Morgan Stanley Capital Inc., and is usually used as a benchmark for global stock funds. Reuters reported Friday that “Asian shares fell for a fourth day in a row on Friday as Europe's funding difficulties intensified, with Spanish borrowing costs hitting an unsustainable level and premiums for dollar funds rising further. “In a sign that global funding strains may spread to Asia, benchmark three-month euroyen interest rates futures fell to an eight-month low on Friday on concerns that tightness in dollar money markets may prompt non-Japanese banks to raise yen at a higher rate," according to the same Reuters report. On Philippine stocks, Angeles said the market is also going through a correction after the main index hit the 4,400-resistance area. “We are just retracing some of those gains, he noted. — TJD, GMA News