Philippines stocks fell on Thursday as traders took profits for a second straight day on major telecom issues PLDT and Globe Telecom Inc following a strong recent rally.
Analysts said it was technical correction and saw the outlook as positive, with traditional election campaign spending set to boost consumer demand ahead of May 10 polls.
The main index dropped for the second straight day, shedding 1.36 percent or 20.59 points to 1,495.50 points.
"The upward trend of the market remains intact," said RCBC stocks analyst Edwin Mendoza.
"If foreign interest in the market continues and no significant negative political development springs up, the index may still move higher in the short term."
Value turnover fell to 779.37 million pesos ($14.14 million) from Wednesday's 959.25 million pesos. Foreign investors were net buyers in the market for the past three sessions with 411.47 million pesos.
Losers beat gainers 29 to 26 and there were 39 stocks unchanged.
"Expectations that corporate earnings would continue to improve in the coming periods remain strong and would likely continue to drive share prices higher," Mendoza said.
Analysts said investors were positive about telecom companies this year with elections due on May 10 expected to boost the volume of text messages and voice calls.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), the country's dominant telecoms firm, shed 45 pesos or 4.52 percent to 950 pesos on Thursday.
PLDT President Manuel Pangilinan earlier said the company may even exceed its 2003 net income target of at least 10 billion pesos given strong growth in its mobile unit Smart Communications Inc.
Second-ranked Globe Telecom, a unit of local conglomerate Ayala Corp and Singapore Telecommunications, dropped 1.52 percent or 15 pesos to 975 pesos.
The country's largest electricity distributor, Manila Electric Company (Meralco), bucked the market decline as players cheered news that it would be generating savings of some 10.6 billion pesos after it renegotiated its power supply contract with an independent power producer.
Meralco-B shares, which are open to foreigners, rose 1.50 pesos to 28.50 pesos while Meralco-A shares, which are restricted to Filipinos, gained 75 centavos to 17.5 pesos.
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