GMA-7 stocks shine in debut; RP bourse falls

Philippine shares fell sharply on Monday, as traders still wary of the volatility of the United States markets, continued to cash in investments. Yet on its IPO debut Monday, GMA Network's common shares closed at P10.50, higher than the opening price of P8.70, while preferred shares rose to P11, from opening price of P9.50. The Philippine Stock Exchange composite index dropped 51.30 points or 1.46 percent to 3,467.46 points. The broader all shares index shed 31.18 points at 2,252.05 points. Last week, Wall Street succumbed to long drawn out worries over lending rates. The Dow Jones shed as much as 450 points in one session, leading Asian markets into a similar tumble. Losers clobbered gainers 101 to 25 in the local market, while 44 stocks were unchanged. GMA7 shares closed at P10.50 apiece, 23.53 percent higher than its opening price of P8.70. The company’s Philippine Depositary Receipts soared 29.41 percent to P11, from its opening price of P9.50. Both the common shares and the PDRs were initially priced at P8.50. On Monday, volume traded reached 4.43 billion valued at P16.92 billion. Vista Land, a property firm owned by the family of Senate President Manuel Villar, fell P0.30 or 4.62 percent to P6.20. Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., the country’s largest lender, slumped P3 or P4.72 percent to P60.50. Ayala Land Inc. shed P0.25 at P16.25. The Philippine Stock Exchange official online site reported that a total of 200,972,000 GMAP shares were traded on Monday, valued at P2.04 billion. The No. 1 stock traded on the floor on Monday, GMAP was also the only stock to achieve double-digit figures in both volume and value of trade. On the other hand, a total of 57,372,000 GMA7 common shares traded on Monday fetched total value of P561.8 million. In all, the GMAP and GMA7 shares accounted for 12.06 percent and 3.32 percent, respectively, of the trade in top active stocks on Monday. Also, GMAP and GMA7 were the only media stocks to land on Monday's list of top 10 gainers. GMANews.TV is the official website of GMA News and Public Affairs, a unit of GMA Network Inc. – GMANews.TV