Stocks sustain losses as Wall St retreats

MANILA, Philippines — Share prices were down anew yesterday, mirroring the decline in US equities, analysts said. The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index retreated by another  98.08 points, or 1.13 percent, to finish at 8,515.57.

Similarly, the broader All Shares gauge shed 34.98 points, or 0.68 percent, to end at 5,087.19.

All other indexes were in the red except for the services index which managed to end in positive territory.

Total value turnover, meanwhile, reached P10.46 billion. Market breadth was negative, 136 to 77 in favor of decliners, while 49 issues were left unchanged.

Traders said the index took the cue from US markets.

 “The index traded in the red the entire day, following in the footsteps of the US equities market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 166 points last night as sentiment turned sour on rising US Treasury yields,” said Gabriel Perez, a trader at Papa Securities.

There were also some index heavyweights which dragged the index, he said.

“SM weighed down the index the most as it fell 3.6 percent to close at 950, even falling as much as five percent intraday,” he said.

On the other hand, only three PSEi constituents closed in the green. These are Aboitiz Equity Ventures, which rose  2.8 percent, LT Group, which was up two percent and Megawide which was up 0.6 percent.

“Golden Haven and Starmalls, both Villar companies, may have reached too far for the heavens and stars, “Perez said. “They fell throughout the day after the initial exuberance in the morning,” he added.