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MANILA - (UPDATED 4:43 p.m.) Philippine share prices on Wednesday succumbed to profit-taking for the second straight session on lingering overseas economic concerns and worries over the economic impact of a territorial dispute between China and Japan in the East China Sea.
At the Philippine Stock Exchange, the composite index shed 14.10 points or 0.26 percent to close at 5,317.03.
Leading the market's decline was the services counter, which lost 0.94 percent.
Advancers narrowly edged out decliners, 80 to 75, while 45 issues closed flat. A total of 1.098 billion stocks worth P4.99 billion changed hands.
"We have the same old concerns: Europe's debt problems, mixed signals from the US economy and now we have the trade barbs between China and Japan," said Astro del Castillo of First Grade Finance Inc.
In China, protests against Japan's purchase of the disputed Diaoyu Islands have prompted several major Japanese firms to suspend operations in response to attacks on their shops.
"The trade row between China and Japan may cost billions of dollars and it may have some domino effect on other economies. It's no joke," said del Castillo.
Problems in the euro zone continued to weigh on investor sentiment after Spain remain reluctant to seek a full bailout, which is necessary for the European Central Bank to begin buying the country's bonds and ease its borrowing costs.
Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average eked out a modest gain of 11.54 points, or 0.1 percent, to 13,564.64 even after delivery company FedEx Corp. cut its full-year earnings outlook, warning of a slowdown in global manufacturing activity.
"Stocks moved sideways with a downward bias on concerns on global economy as investors cashed in on gains after the market's recent run-up," said Freya Natividad, investment analyst at 2TradeAsia.com, adding that the benchmark index may move within the 5,300 to 5,400 range as investors look for more sizeable leads.
Ayala Land, PLDT, Metrobank, DMCI and Megaworld were the most actively traded stocks.
Top gainers were PNOC-EC, City & Land and Mariwasa SIAM, while the biggest losers were Metro Pacific Tollways, Globalport and Unioil.
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