Index ends flat as market starts to consolidate

Share prices finished flat yesterday with few fresh leads to spur buying or selling.

The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 0.77 point, or 0.04 percent, to 2,120.99, after rising 0.9 percent Monday.

"The market is currently just consolidating, as investors wait for cues," said BPI Securities assistant vice-president Spencer Yap.

Contributing mainly to the slight loss was blue chip Ayala Land, which gave up 2.3 percent to P10.75 on profit taking. The stock rose 7.3 percent in the past three sessions.

There were 36 gainers, 34 decliners and 62 unchanged stocks.

Volume reached 421.49 million shares worth P1.261 billion.

"This type of trading si normal during this time of the year when most of the past year’s earnings are already out and when there’s very little news to trade on," said Jose Vistan of AB Capital Securities.

He said investors may be awaiting first-quarter results before they return to the market.

"This year is kind of special since the first-quarter results may be different as companies would have to contend with higher taxes," Vistan added. "The marked doesn’t want to commit. It is on a wait-and-see mode."

SM Investments was up 2.8 percent at P223 after the investment holding group of retail tycoon Henry Sy posted a 22-percent rise in 2005 net profit, buoyed by higher revenue.

After the market closed, the conglomerate reported that its net profit rose P7.1 billion last year from P5.8 billion in 2004 on the back of strong earnings from its mall and banking businesses.

Other active stocks included Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), which fell 0.3 percent to P1,830 on profit taking, while rival Globe Telecom gained P5 to P820.

Pilipino Telephone rose 1.6 percent to P3.20, as analysts lauded its focus on the rural Filipino market, eschewing the current trend in the mobile phone industry to concentrate on the costlier high-end cellular 3G-linked services. The stock is also viewed as undervalued by analysts.

Top traded Bank of the Philippine Islands closed flat at P59.

A shares of San Miguel Corp., restricted to local investors, inched down 50 centavos at P61 while B shares, which are open to foreigners, retreated 50 centavos to P79.50. – AP, AFP