Index tumbles 8 pts amid scandal, falling peso

Share prices fell 0.5 percent yesterday amid a jueteng payoff involving President Estrada and a continuing slide by the peso which hit a record low of 48.50 to the dollar.

The 30-company main index slid for the fifth straight day, retreating 7.52 points to 1,318.74, still at a two-year low. The broader All-Shared index also fell 6.76 pts or one percent to 669.

"Definitely the negative sentiment is stronger and right now the bad impression about the government and the economy still prevails," said Warren Chua of Mercantile Securities Corp.

Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is out of the country, released a statement after trading closed saying she was quitting the Cabinet as social welfare secretary but would retain her position as vice president. The markets are expected to react to this development today.

Analysts blamed the market’s weakness on an ongoing Congressional probe into allegations that President Estrada pocketed millions of pesos in bribes over two years from gambling lords.

The President’s nationwide television address early yesterday denying the accusations and calling them a "hatchet job" by the opposition failed to calm nerves, they said.

"The market’s still very restless and value-wise there are not enough participants," said Harry Liu of Summit Securities.

The counters closed mixed, with the commercial-industrial, finance and mining sectors ending in the red; the oil sub-index was unchanged; and property rose 0.65 percent as giants SM Prime and Ayala Land picked up gains.

Losers still swamped gainers by almost two-to-one but on the positive side, the number of advancing stocks continued to expand, reaching 21 yesterday as against 47 decliners. The remaining 37 issued traded were left unchanged.

Stock turnover remained lean at 1.08 billion, of which 19.2 percent represented transactions in Trans-Asia Oil & Energy Development Corp., the most active issue for the day.

Trans-Asia shares vaulted 11 percent or nine centavos to P0.91 due to a huge P100-million in cross sales made by Peregrine Securities at P1 per share.

The Phinma-owned company is principally engaged in oil and gas exploration and develops petroleum deposits in the Philippines but it has recently diversified into non-oil businesses to supplement the high risk oil exploration activities.

In corporate news, tech stock SPI Technologies has set the record date for a 1:7 stock rights offering on Nov. 2, intended to generate P215 million in funds for the company’s expansion. The additional shares can he availed for P8.55 each, SPI closed steady at P7.80 yesterday.

PLDT and B shares of San Miguel remained unchanged at P775 and P47 respectively.