Philippines share prices are expected to consolidate in the first week of the new year as investors test the market for signs of what lies ahead, dealers said.
"The market this week will continue to consolidate given that most investors will still have a holiday hangover," said Ron Rodrigo of Accord Capital Securities.
"Investors are quite worried about what would happen next year so they would just test the waters first and get a (lead) on government policies to be implemented," Rodrigo said.
He said investors would like to see signs that the political squabbling between President Gloria Arroyo and the opposition that dominated the last half of 2005 would be relegated to the background this year.
For the 3-day week to December 30, the composite index fell 15.42 points or 0.7 percent to 2,096.04 points. The market was closed on Monday and Friday.
Average daily turnover fell to 288.6 million shares worth 639.1 million pesos (12 million dollars) from 348.1 million shares valued at 728.2 million pesos in the previous week.