(UPDATE) Bourse tumbles on profit taking

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Profit taking pulled down the Philippine stock market today even after it touched the 7,000 level.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 0.35 percent or 24.37 points to 6,974, while the broader all-share index slipped by 0.13 percent or 5.32 points to 4,171.14.

Trading volume reached 1.53 billion shares worth $9.37 billion with 89 stocks advancing, 79 declining, and 51 were unchanged.

Of the six counters, only the industrial and the mining and oil sectors bucked the trend.

"There is currently no strong trend present with the index moving largely sideways and confined to the tight trading band," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment.

The analyst noted that having tipped the 7,000 level on July 7, the index has tumbled and eventually bottoming out at 6,830.37. On Tuesday, it again reached the said level before profit takers started booking their gains.

Calaycay said the limited participation of investors in the market is evidenced by the minimal movement in value turnover.

"There is yet no reliably strong signals either off the technical charts," he said.

Also on Tuesday, the Philippine government reported that the country's inflation reached 4.9 percent in July, the highest in almost three years.

The increase in the price of goods and services was brought about by the uptick in the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index.

This might have influenced some investors during Tuesday's trade, analysts said.

Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. While investors picked up heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., they sold down Ayala shares such as Ayala Land, Inc. and Ayala Corp.