Stocks fall in another lackluster session

MANILA, Philippines - The local bellwether index briefly tested the 6,900 territory yesterday before profit takers took over in the afternoon to end another session of lackluster trading.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slightly fell 0.04 percent or 3.03 points to 6,889.89, while the broader All Shares index closed 0.01 percent or 0.51 points lower at 4,125.18.

“Stocks extended Wednesday’s mild cheer to briefly push past the 6,900-mark in early trades but fell short of yesterday’s peak,” Justino Calaycay Jr., analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp. The main index hit an intraday high of 6,903.16 yesterday.

“Yet even as the bears reimposed their dominance of the trading day, they have lacked support evidenced by weak value turnover,” Calaycay said.

Local stocks bucked the trend in overseas markets.

Asian stocks were generally in the green yesterday after reports that Chinese manufacturing activity improved in July well ahead of expectations.

Wall St. ended mixed on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average eased 0.16 percent or 26.91 points to close at 17,086.63, dragged by index component Boeing, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.18 percent or 3.48 points to a fresh record at 1,987.01 due to Apple’s strong corporate performance.

At home, local counters were also mixed. The industrial sector dropped 0.73 percent or 77.13 points to 10,475.66 but the gainers were led by the property sector that jumped 0.64 percent or 16.66 points to 2,616.94.