Philippines share prices closed 1.34 percent lower on Tuesday as profit-taking set in after the index approached five-year highs on Monday, dealers said. They said some market participants had decided to cash out of their positions ahead of companies' 2004 earnings reports due shortly. The Philippine Stock Exchange composite index fell 27.10 points to 1,992.46 after trading between 1,988.00 and 2,019.56. Turnover totalled 2.68 billion shares worth 3.88 billion pesos (70.55 million dollars) from 4.19 billion shares valued at 1.48 billion pesos on Monday.
The broader all-shares index fell 2.58 points to 1,155.91. Losers led gainers 52 to 49, with 48 stocks unchanged. "Realistically, people at some point in time would cash in their gains. The market has long been ripe for profit-taking," said Mark Alan Canizares of Citiseconline.com.
2TradeAsia.com said sentiment on the local bourse has been upbeat with some institutional investors taking the view that the economy may now undergo a sustained pickup as a result of government policy actions.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co was the most actively traded stock, down 10 pesos at 1,415 pesos.
First Philippine Holdings was second most active, down 50 centavos at 41 pesos.
Ayala Corp fell 20 centavos to 7.70 pesos, while unit Ayala Land Inc was down 20 centavos at 8.90 pesos. Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co fell one peso to 31.50 pesos. Globe Telecom was down five pesos to 920 pesos, while Bank of the Philippine Islands retreated two pesos to 56.50 pesos.
SM Prime Holdings was down 20 centavos to 8.40 pesos. San Miguel Corp B shares, available to foreignn investors, fell one peso to 77 pesos, while San Miguel A, limited to local investors, ended unchanged at 58 pesos.