Philippines share prices closed flat on Friday as bargain-hunters emerged in late trade and picked up stocks battered by Wall Street's overnight slump, dealers said. They said this enabled the local market to cut early losses, which were in line with a sell-off across the region on fears of rising interest rates.
The composite index ended down 2.06 points at 3,526.73 after moving between 3,468.85 and 3,532.29. Turnover reached 4.98 billion shares worth 5.0 billion pesos (108 million dollars). There were 57 advancers and 56 decliners, while 55 stocks were unchanged.
The broader all-share index shed 3.40 points to 2,249.57. The local currency traded at 46.337 to the dollar. "Some investors are just waiting for discounts before going back into the market," said Nestor Aguila of DA Market Securities. He said the market's correction this week, after hitting record highs recently, was not deep "because a lot of investors have not joined the selling spree as they intend to stay in the market."
Philippine Long Distance Telephone closed 40 pesos higher at 2,600, recovering some ground after a three-day decline. Top-traded Metropolitan Bank was down 50 centavos at 63.50 pesos, while SM Investments added 7.50 to 422.50. San Miguel A shares fell 50 centavos to 66.50 pesos and its B shares fell be a peso to 72.