Philippines share prices closed 0.43 percent lower on Monday as investors took profits after last week's gains, dealers said. The composite index fell 10.95 points to 2,517.73 while the all-shares index fell 0.46 percent to 1,620.07 points. Losers outnumbered gainers 85 to 36, while 42 stocks were unchanged.
Turnover totalled 2.962 billion shares worth 2.605 billion pesos (55.14 million dollars). The local currency traded at 47.43 to the dollar early Monday from its close of 47.24 to the dollar on Friday. "It's just profit-taking," Ricardo Puig of ATR-Kim Eng Securities told Dow Jones Newswires.
"Fundamentals remain the same, and we're even expecting more interest rate cuts," he added. SM Investments Corp fell 0.8 percent to 305 pesos while Bank of the Philippine Islands dropped 1.09 percent to 45.50 pesos. Property developer Megaworld Corp rose 5.17 percent to 1.22 pesos while Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co gained 0.22 percent to 2,285 pesos.