Philippines share prices closed 0.8 percent lower Tuesday as President Gloria Arroyo's disappointing state of the nation address failed to boost investor sentiment, dealers said. Comments from Fitch Ratings that the government is unlikely to keep its budget deficit for 2007 within the 63 billion-peso (1.41 million dollar) ceiling also weighed on the market, they said.
The composite index lost 31.55 points at 3,706.24. The broader all-share index lost 12.81 points to 2,406.57. Losers led gains 61 to 40 with 70 stocks unchanged. Volume was 4.8 billion shares worth 4.3 billion pesos (96 million dollars).
"Investors were trying to figure out if the president's flagship infrastructure projects are realistic while Fitch's statement brought out concerns as to how government will go about funding these (projects)," said Ron Rodrigo of Unicapital Securities.
Fitch said Tuesday based on the first-half fiscal data, it now expects the Philippines' budget deficit for 2007 to hit 125 billion pesos or 1.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), excluding revenue from planned asset sales in the second half.