Market closes flat as investors take a breather

Share prices closed flat yesterday as investors took a breather after the benchmark index hit its highest level in nearly seven years on Tuesday, dealers said.

Gains in Ayala Corp. and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) offset profit-taking in select counters, but many investors were on the sidelines awaiting fresh leads, they said.

The composite index ended down 1.01 points at 2,184.70 after moving between 2,173.44 and 2,187.49.

Volume reached 798.91 million shares worth P978.06 million. Gainers led losers 49 to 40, with 63 stocks unchanged.

"There were bouts of profit-taking earlier in the session but the market is convinced the uptrend is very much intact after the technical breakout yesterday," said Nestor Aguila of DA Market Securities.

The market broke through the 2,160 to 2,170 range on Tuesday, considered a major resistance level, triggering aggressive buying that brought the key index to its best level since August 1999.

Ayala Corp., the most actively traded stock, rose P2.50 to P352.50 while PLDT was up P5 at P1,870.

Electricity producer First Gen Corp. fell P1 to P41 while oil refiner Petron Corp. was down P5 centavos at P4.55.

Food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. saw its A shares, restricted to Filipinos, remain steady at P60.50 while its B shares, open to foreigners, advanced 50 centavos to P81.

"The market is taking a breather," said Alfred Dy, head of research at CLSA Philippines Inc. "The fundamentals haven’t changed."

Dy expects the index to climb to 2,300 this year on optimism that increases in the value added tax and corporate tax rates will boost government revenue and help trim the deficit to P152 billion, a seven-year low, in 2006.

The prospect that the government can cut the deficit led Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s to upgrade their outlook on the nation’s junk-rated debt to stable from negative in February.

SM Prime, the nation’s largest shopping-mall operator, fell 10 centavos, or 1.3 percent, to P7.90. Globe Telecom, its second-largest mobile-phone company, fell P10, or 1.1 percent, to P890, ending a 10 percent, six-day climb.

Philex Mining Corp., the nation’s second-largest mining company by market value, climbed to its highest in almost nine years.

Philex Class A shares, which are reserved for Filipinos, rose 4 centavos, or 1.8 percent, to P2.26 after climbing 30 percent in the past eight days. Its Class B shares, which have no ownership restrictions, fell two centavos, or 0.9 percent, to P2.34. The Class B stock yesterday surged 7.3 percent to P2.36, its highest since Aug. 4, 1997. – AFP