MANILA, Philippines - Local share prices succumbed to profit taking yesterday, with the bellwether index snapping a three-day climb.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index eased 1.08 percent or 66.80 points to settle at 6,104.90, retreating from a new record level of 6,171.70.
The broader all shares index lost 0.67 percent or 26.07 points to 3,851.17.
“Investors seized the local market’s overbought level to take profits. This was also prompted by the holiday in the US as most institutional investors were off for the celebration,†Freya Natividad, investment analyst at brokerage firm 2Trade-Asia.com, said in a phone interview.
Wall Street was closed on Monday in celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
In the local market, all subindices, save for financial companies that inched up 0.11 percent or 1.73 points to 1,585.17, were in the red. The decliners were led by service firms that retreated 1.74 percent or 32.97 points to 1,860.90.
Losers outpaced winners, 113 to 58, while 43 stocks did not change. Value of shares traded rose to P6.68 billion from P6.14 billion on Monday.
Most active shares were in the red, led by index heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. that declined 2.63 percent or P76 to P2,814 on profit taking.
Natividad said investors also booked profits from the run-up of shares of PLDT, which accounted for around 12 percent of the PSEi.