Stocks retreat further on US market's poor performance

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The poor performance of the US equities overnight sent the Philippine stock market retreating further today.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index declined 0.60 percent or 38.55 points to 6,391.24, while the broader all-share index suffered a drop of 0.31 percent or 12.10 points to 3,866.72.

Trading volume reached 1.09 billion shares worth P7.51 billion ($168.23 million) with 94 stocks declining, 60 advancing, and 51 remaining unchanged.

Of the six counters, only the holding firm sector bucked the trend.

"Sentiments glided with Wall Street's sharp overnight drop, sending concerns over the ability of the local equities to hold above the 6,400 mark," brokerage 2TradeAsia.com said in its daily stock market comment.

The Dow Jones industrial average index cut off 231 points from its value along with the Nasdaq Composite index on Thursday.

2TradeAsia.com added that Philippine investors are also worried of the slowing growth of anchor economies like China.

Following the local equities' failure to stay above the 6,500 mark, 2TradeAsia.com said that technical chartists are likely to check the composite index's ability to hold above the 6,400 mark or revert to the 6,300 to 6,350 level.

"Seize on corrections to position selectively," the online brokerage advises investors.

Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. While share prices of Ayala Corp. and SM Investments Corp. extended their rallies, stocks heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. were sold down.