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MANILA - (UPDATED 5:21 p.m.) Philippine share prices on Thursday dropped for a third straight session to drag the composite index below the 5,300 level, tracking the weakness across bourses in Asia following a downbeat Chinese manufacturing report.
At the Philippine Stock Exchange, the benchmark index shed 22.06 points or 0.41 percent to close at 5,294.97.
Leading the market's decline were the mining and oil as well as property counters, which lost 2.15 percent and 1.71 percent, respectively.
Decliners beat advancers, 92 to 58, while 44 issues were unchanged. A total of 1.81 billion stocks worth P4.78 billion changed hands.
"A tepid rise in the Dow and a region-wide retreat among indexes in the region favored sustained profit-taking, pushing the main measure lower for third straight session," said Jun Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp.
"From a technical standpoint, it is but part of the mini-cycles and a largely expectable event after the PSEi touched the 5,350-resistance mark," Calaycay added.
Asian markets fell after HSBC's flash purchasing managers' index showed manufacturing activity in China contracted for an 11th month in a row in August despite picking up from a nine-month low.
Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 13.32 points, or 0.10 percent, to close at 13,577.96 after home re-sales in August rose at its fastest space in more than two years, while housing starts also grew, raising hopes that the recovery in the housing market is gaining traction.
"The PSEi broke below the 5,300-line possibly raising some concerns over the validity of the recent foray above the mark," said Calaycay, adding that immediate support pulled back to the 5,250 to 5,270 range.
Actively traded stocks were Universal Robina, Alliance Global, Ayala Land, MPIC and PLDT.
Top gainers were Metro Pacific Tollways, SPC Power and A. Brown, while the biggest losers were Omico, Prime Media and PNOC-EC.
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