Philippines share prices closed flat on Wednesday as investors chose to take profits after the market hit an all-time high, dealers said. They said the Philippine bourse has finally caught up with its regional peers, all of which have been smashing records as they returned to highs last seen just before the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
The composite index added just 0.47 points to 3,409.20, its best closing level since February 4,1997, when it settled at 3,398.89. During the session, the index was at one point up more than one percent for an intra-day record of 3,451.73 points.
The broader all-share index was up 4.54 points or 0.2 percent at 2,178.19. Losers just led gainers 59 to 58, with 51 stocks unchanged. Turnover was 5.1 billion shares worth 6.0 billion pesos (125 million dollars). The peso traded at 46.97 to the dollar.
"The market will retest the all-time high but it had to take a breather to consolidate and build a stronger base," said Gomer Tan, an analyst at Reginal Capital Development Corp Ron Rodrigo, an analyst with Unicapital Securities, said caution may be the watchword in coming sessions with all eyes on the results of Monday's mid-term polls.
Vote counting in the polls, for half of the 24-seat Senate along with all of the 275-member House of Representatives and more than 18,000 local government posts, has just begun and is expected to take around 10 days. Megaworld Corp, the most actively traded stock, edged up 10 centavos to 3.90 pesos.
Other gainers were SM Investments Corp, which rose 10 pesos to 402.50, Equitable PCI Bank, up three pesos to 112, and property developer Filinvest Land which added eight centavos to 1.80 pesos. PLDT led the day's decliners, losing 20 pesos to 2,545. Food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel Corp's A-shares gained four pesos to 80 but its B-shares shed one peso to 86.00.