Stocks take breather from 5-day beating

Stocks finally broke out of a five-day slump on technical rebound but traders warned the market is not out of the woods just yet as the crumbling of the peso and the political turmoil in the Estrada administration drag on.

The Phisix edged up 4.91 points or 0.37 percent to settle at 1,323.65 as trade turnover improved to P1.2 billion, lifted by selective buying on index heavyweights PLDT, SM Prime, Ayala Land and Equitable PCI Bank.

But on a broader scale, the All-Shares index reflected the prevailing negative sentiment that is not limited to the local bourse alone.

Weighed down by the sharp drop in Canadian insurance stocks Sun Life and Manulife, the All-Shares index plummeted 20.9 points or 3.12 percent to 648.10. Sun Life dropped P55 to P845 while Manulife slid P80 to P1,010.

The sub-indices closed mixed as the commercial-industrial, mining and oil counters remained in the red while the finance and property sectors advanced.

Lending the 14 gainers for the day was telecom stock PLDT, which made up 20.5 percent of total trades. Its price went up P5 to P780.

Other notable advancers were property giants SM Prime and Ayala Land, as well as banking behemoths Equitable and BPI. SM Prime added 25 centavos to P4.30 while ALI went up 20 centavos to P4.40. EBC gained P1 to P64 while BPI moved up 50 centavos to P52.50.

Food and plastics manufacturing firm Alliance Global Inc., which has been on the most active list for over a week, climbed 25 centavos to P11.50 as it disclosed plans to list its shares at the Singapore Stock Exchange.

A substantial block worth P207 million was sold yesterday, representing the purchase of 47.05 million shares of local 7-Eleven licensee Philippine Seven Corp. by Singapore’s Iona Investment Pte. Ltd. to increase its stake in the company.