Absence of buying leads dampens Phl stocks

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine stocks retreated yesterday due to the absence of buying leads.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index declined 0.26 percent or 17.70 points to 6,826.61, while the broader all shares index fell 0.24 percent or 9.79 points to 4,096.49.

“We had window dressing on Monday so it’s normal that prices will pull back,” Miguel A. Agarao, an analyst at Wealth Securities Inc., said in a phone interview.

“It just shows investors are hesitant but it doesn’t point to a long term (downward) direction,” Agarao said, adding that second quarter earnings data will trading leads in the coming weeks.

Turnover value thinned to P4.99 billion from P8.61 billion on Monday sans buying leads that will encourage investors to load up on stocks.

Wall Street also showed weakness as it started a shortened trading week. The Dow Jones industrial average eased 0.15 percent or 25.24 points to 16,826.60, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 0.04 percent or 0.73 point to 1,960.23.

At home, all counters, save of the financial sector that rose 0.16 percent or 2.56 points to 1,634.03, were in the red. The losers were paced by holding firms that shed 0.51 percent or 31.59 points to finish at 6,211.58.

Decliners outpaced advancers, 101 to 75, while 41 stocks did not change.

Most active stocks closed lower, led by top-traded BDO Unibank Inc. (-0.53 percent) and index heavyweight PLDT (-0.13 percent). But third most active Ayala Land Inc. (+0.33 percent) and Metrobank (+0.11 percent) bucked the trend yesterday.