Philippines share prices closed down 1.5 percent on Monday amid regional weakness after Wall Street's Friday plunge, dealers said. Technical glitches halted trading twice and exacerbated the sell-off, they said, while bullish government economic growth projections failed to lift sentiment.
The composite index lost 51.87 points to 3,486.82. The broader all-share index was down 29.97 points or 1.4 percent at 2,146.44. Decliners outnumbered gainers 100 to 26, while 34 stocks were unchanged. Turnover was 1.2 billion shares worth 2.5 billion pesos (60.7 million dollars).
Economic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos told reporters that the government was forecasting economic growth this year of 6.9-7.3 percent, faster than its original target of 6.1-6.7 percent.
"It's the spectre of a US recession that kept investors out of the market. It outweighed all other local positive news," said Jose Vistan at AB Capital Securities.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 1.3 percent on Friday. "Lingering concerns over a slowing US economy will be in the minds of investors for a long time," said Francisco Liboro of PCCI Securities. Index leader Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co shed 20 pesos to 2,980. Conglomerate Ayala Corp fell 20 pesos to 515.
Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co, the country's largest bank by assets, lost 1.50 pesos to 53.50. Ayala Land Inc, the country's largest property developer, was down 50 centavos to 14.25 pesos. San Miguel Corp A shares were unchanged at 60.00 pesos while its B shares shed 50 centavos to 60 pesos.
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