(UPDATE) Philippine bourse tumbles on Greece's dilemma

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine stock market was down today following Greece's dilemma.

The local barometer Philippine Stock Exchange index retreated by 0.76 percent or 59.43 points to 7,723.14, while the broader all- share index was down by 0.57 percent or 25.69 points to 4,485.54.

Trading volume reached 3.45 billion shares worth P19.14 billion ($431.91 million) with 90 stocks advancing, 97 declining and 48 were unchanged.

Of the six counters, only the services sector bucked the trend.

"The 'ghost' of Greece continues to haunt and spook markets, dragging European markets lower overnight - the same track taken by US stocks," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment.

The index touched a new intra-day high of 7,807.71 but failed to sustain the rally as concerns over Greece resurfaced following the election of the anti-austerity party, and magnified recently by the hard-line and public stance taken by Germany for the country to honor the conditions tied to the bail-out.

"On some points, today's decline is a welcome development for a market that has practically risen with little pause," Calaycay said.

The analyst noted that the index has been busy rewriting the record books and technical indicators are showing how steep the market's climb has been.

Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Investors picked up shares of index heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Globe Telecom, Inc., and Ayala Land, Inc.