The good and bad news

MANILA (AFP) - Philippine share prices closed 0.84 percent lower Friday as investors locked in profits after Wall Street's slump overnight, dealers said.

Investors also exercised caution amid recent comments by former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan that China's rapidly rising stock market may eventually fall sharply, possibly taking with them the rest of the global equity market, they said.

The composite index gave up 29.01 points to 3,441.76 after trading between 3,426.82 and 3,470.77.

The broader all-share index fell 15.10 points to 2,212.32.

Losers outnumbered gainers 68 to 44, while 52 stocks were unchanged. Some 3.6 billion shares worth 5.5 billion pesos were traded.

The peso traded at 46.34 to the dollar.

"The selling pressure is very evident. That's a given after the week-and-a-half long rally and with the index hitting record levels," said Lawrence de Leon, an analyst at Accord Capital Equities.

Dealers said while the economic outlook remains positive, sentiment in the coming sessions may turn bearish amid jitters over the stability of Asian bourses.

"China, in particular, is doing very well but anything that goes up too fast too soon is prone to corrections," said Rommel Macapagal, chairman of Westlink Global Equities.

"The same is true for the local market. We have gone up so steeply, so you can expect investors to be playing it safe for a while before firming up their positions again," he added.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone, the most actively-traded stock,
added 15 pesos to 2,505.

Other gainers include JG Summit Holdings Inc which rose 50 centavos to 12.50 pesos and SM Prime Holdings Inc up 25 centavos to 12.50 pesos.

Leading decliners was conglomerate Ayala Corp which shed 15 pesos to 505 pesos.

Food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel Corp's A-shares lost 1.50 pesos to 67.50 and its B-shares also fell 1.50 to 77.