Philippines share prices closed 1.02 percent lower on Wednesday as investors locked in profits ahead of the New Year long weekend, dealers said.
The disappointing October imports figures released earlier added to the lackluster tone, keeping many investors sidelined, they added.
The Philippine Stock Exchange composite index fell 21.28 points to close at the day's low of 2,067.32 after touching a high of 2,085.28 points.
Volume amounted to 265.28 million shares worth 666.3 million pesos (12.6 million dollars.)
The all-shares index fell 10.94 points to 1,257.11.
Losers beat gainers 39 to 22, with 40 stocks unchanged.
The Philippine peso traded at 53.064 pesos to the US dollar as of mid-day.
The National Statistics Office earlier announced that merchandise imports in October fell 3.1 percent from a year earlier due partly to lower purchases of electronics which are used as components in the country's key electronics exports.
"Investors are taking more profits in the run-up to the new year. Everybody is in vacation mode," said Gomer Tan of Regina Capital Development Corp.
He said most fund managers probably completed window-dressing their portfolios as early as last Friday. The market staged a strong pre-Christmas rally for four straight days last week.
"I guess most investors won't be back until the second week of January. If the peso stays strong, it could be a catalyst for another market rally," he added.
Bank of the Philippine Islands, the most actively traded stock, was down one peso at 53.50 pesos while parent Ayala Corp fell 2.50 to 310.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co shed 35 to close at 1,780 while mall operator SM Prime Holdings Inc was down 30 centavos at eight pesos.
Food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp's A and B shares were steady at 64.50 and 88 pesos respectively.
Comments
Comments are closed.