Philippine bourse retreats following drop in US equities

The Philippine stock market retreated on Thursday following the drop in the U.S. equities. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 0.56 percent or 38.19 points to 6,731.33, while the broader all-share index shed 0.43 percent or 17.34 points to 4,054.87. Trading volume reached 2.24 billion shares worth 6.77 billion pesos (151.51 million U.S. dollars) with 86 stocks advancing, 94 declining, and 39 were unchanged. Of the six counters, only the mining and oil sector bucked the trend. "Asia continues to take its cue from the U.S. which last night snapped its longest winning streak in six months as the first set of disappointing earnings and home prices fell," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment. The analyst said corporate results in the region also become a factor investors contend with as the reporting season begins. Concerns over China's slowing economy, magnified by manufacturing data released Wednesday posed the drag, even as it was tempered by expectations the authorities will be inclined to add measures to stimulate the economy, he added. The analyst nevertheless noted that investors remain in the hunting spree as the index managed to trim down its losses. "Obviously the steep decline at the open failed to open the floodgates of pessimism with buying activity sufficiently meeting sellers' sentiment to keep the index at just under 40-points the rest of the way," Calaycay said. The index went down to as low as 6,725.83 but managed to regain its upward momentum. Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Among those sold down were Ayala Corp. and heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.