Stocks fall 1.1 percent to end four-day runup

Stocks fell yesterday on profit-taking following four consecutive sessions of gains as investors positioned their portfolios for the new year, traders said.

They said volumes were light, indicating most investors remain on vacation since both Monday and Friday of this week are holidays, leaving only three days of trading.

The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 22.86 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,088.60. The index had risen 4.3 percent over the past four sessions, including Friday’s 1.6 percent advance. Financial markets were closed Monday for the Christmas holiday.

Total volume amounted to 144.7 million shares worth P284.5 million.

The Ayala group of companies dominated the sell-off. Ayala Corp. lost 2.3 percent to P312.50, its affiliate Bank of the Philippine Islands dropped 2.7 percent to P54.50, property unit Ayala Land declined three percent to P9.70, and affiliate Globe Telecom shed 2.7 percent to P715.

Select stocks continued to enjoy support from bargain hunters, helping to limit losses. First Philippine Holdings added one percent to P49 and Filinvest Land gained 1.5 percent to P1.40.

Westlink Global Equities chairman Rommel Macapagal said the market pullback wasn’t surprising given the market’s recent gains, though he added that he isn’t ruling out the possibility of ending the year on a positive note.

"It was a strong rally for (the past) four days so the tendency is for a correction to follow," said Macapagal.

"The thin volume indicates investors are reluctant to sell. Buyers are just not aggressive, they’re just letting prices go down to attractive levels," he added.

The commercial-industrial, all shares, banks and financial services, and property sub-indexes retreated. The mining sub-indicator advanced. The oil sub-index was unchanged. Decliners led gainers 38 to 28, while 41 stocks were unchanged.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. was the most actively traded stock ending unchanged at P1,815.

Food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp.’s A shares were flat at P64.50 while San Miguel’s B shares retreated 50 centavos to P88. – AP, AFP