Philippines share prices closed 0.63 percent lower on Tuesday following Wall Street's sharp overnight retreat but some selective bargain-hunting in late trade limited the downside, dealers said.
They said sentiment got a jolt from the fresh losses on Wall Street sparked by hard-line comments on the inflation risk from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
The composite index ended 14.61 points down to 2,289.80, after trading between 2,270.38 and 2,304.41. Volume was 1.6 billion shares worth 868.9 million pesos (16.44 million dollars).
The broader all-shares index fell 8.95 points to 1,434.28.
Losers outnumbered gainers 61 to 16, with 42 stocks unchanged.
The peso was at 52.85 to the dollar by midday.
"The market is and will remain in a downward bias as we continue to be influenced by interest rate hike concerns in the US," said Nestor Aguila of DA Market Securities. With no strong leads on the domestic front, Manila moved in line with other markets in the region, which all tracked Wall Street's sharp retreat.
Inflation worries in the United States due to higher oil prices and signals that the US Federal Reserve will continue to lift rates pulled down the Dow Jones industrial average by nearly 200 points on Monday.
Philippine equities fell sharply early on in response but recovered slightly in late trade as some investors took advantage of the falls to buy stocks viewed as oversold. Dealers said investors largely ignored the latest inflation data which showed the rise in consumer prices slowed to 6.9 percent year-on-year in May from a rise of 7.1 percent in April.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone was top-traded, closing down 10 pesos to 1,990. Globe Telecom fell 25 pesos to 885.
Metropolitan Bank retreated 50 centavos to 34.50 pesos.
Ayala Corp fell five pesos to 397.50 while unit Ayala Land was steady at 13 pesos.
San Miguel A and B shares were unchanged at 64 and 71.50 pesos, respectively.
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