Index retreats 8 pts on profit taking

Stocks retreated yesterday, closing mixed on a scattering of bargain hunting and profit taking on index linked issues.

The 30-company Phisix slid 8.23 points, practically offsetting the previous day's 8.89 points giant, to land back at 1470.53. The All-Shares index, however, rose by a more defined 8.08 points to 628.79 on renewed buying in Canadian insurance stocks Manulife and Sunlife, along with BW Resources and Globe Telecom.

Trading was choppy, with volume just a notch above two billion shares worth a total market value of P901.857 million.

Advancing stocks edged out decliners this time, 45 to 39, while 41 issues were unmoved. The commercial-industrial, oil and banking and financial services counters posted gains while the mining and property sectors retreated.

In a memorandum, Philippine Stock Exchange president Ramon T. Garcia warned member-brokers against "fake orders" for buy transactions that have presumably come from foreign offices using fax transmission.

"The questioned fax orders appear authentic and even carry the names and signatures of their authorized staff members but upon verification turned out to fake and spurious," Garcia said.

He said brokers should take extra precaution by double-checking these orders and use codes or passwords in their deals.

With the absence of direction coming from the local front, the market sympathized with the movement in Wall Street, as the Dow Jones and Nasdaq indices cut down the record advances on Tuesday on renewed caution of another possible hike in Federal Reserve rates.

It has been relatively quiet on the domestic front. Although government forces continue to battle Muslim rebels in Mindanao, the two sides remain locked in talks to resolve the conflict; bombing incidents and threats have diminished; the local currency has stabilized and fears of interest rates hikes have waned down.

PLDT shed off P20 to P745 following the drop in its New York stocks. The local telecom giant said it would invest P1.6 billion for the establishment of an Internet Data Center in partnership with global computer leaders Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.

Index heavyweight Metrobank closed P4 lower to P204. The country's largest bank completed the acquisition of 91 percent of mid-sized commercial bank Solidbank which will merge with its investment unit First Metro Investment Corp.

San Miguel stocks ended mixed, with its "A" shares moving up 50 centavos to P51.50 while its "B" shares declining 50 centavos to likewise end at P51.50.