Market tumbles 22 pts on Wall St losses, weak blue chips

Share prices slipped lower Wednesday for the second straight session, weighed down by Wall Street’s overnight losses, traders said.

The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 21.28 points, or 1 percent, to 2,067.32, after falling 1.1 percent Tuesday.

Blue chips dominated the sell-off. Bank of the Philippine Islands, the most actively traded stock, shed 1.8 percent to P53.50. Mall operator SM Prime was down 3.6 percent at P8, and Ayala Corp. gave up 0.8 percent to end at P310.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. fell 1.9 percent to 1,780 in step with the 1.4 percent loss suffered by the company’s American Depositary Receipts in New York Tuesday.

The market’s retreat followed the one percent losses by the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index on Tuesday.

AB Capital Securities Research Director Jose Vistan said trading is winding down for the year.

"The thin value of trades indicates the absence of buying interest. Fund managers don’t expect the market to make a significant move during these last trading sessions of the year," said Vistan.

Thursday will be the last trading day for 2005, with financial markets closed Friday for a public holiday.

All sectoral indicators retreated, except the oil subindex, which was unchanged. Decliners led gainers 39 to 22, while 40 stocks were unchanged.

Vistan said fund managers are already satisfied with their positions in the market, anchored on next year’s upbeat outlook both on the macroeconomic and corporate fronts.

Jollibee, the nation’s biggest fast-food company, fell P2, or 4.8 percent, to P40. That was its biggest one-day decline since July 4. SM Prime, the country’s biggest shopping mall owner, fell 30 centavos, or 3.6 percent, to P8.

Imports fell 3.1 percent in October as locally based exporters bought less parts and raw materials. Consumer goods purchases also declined. The government last week said the economy may expand as little as 4.8 percent this year. It originally forecast growth of from 5.3 percent to 6.3 percent.

Holcim Philippines Inc. rose 10 centavos, or 2.4 percent, to P4.35.

In the overall market, trading totaled P666.3 million, about three-fifths the average over the last six months. After yesterday, it was the second-lowest trading in the past five weeks. – AFP