Bourse slumps on profit-taking

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - After breaching the 6,500 level on Thursday, profit-taking lead the Philippine stock market to end the trading session in the red today.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 0.54 percent, or 34.99 points, to 6,481.83, while the broader all-share index fell by 0.34 percent, or 13.30 points, to 3,897.33.

Trading volume reached 1.37 billion shares worth P8.18 billion ($183.27 million) with 79 stocks advancing, 77 declining, and 45 were unchanged.

All six counters were down.

Analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment that the recent rally of the local equities was fueled by corporate results.

"The question that surfaces now is how much further can this rally last and up to what point," Calaycay said.

He said there are speculations that it might go to as high as 6, 600 while others have warned of a possible correction, as evidenced by today's drop.

"Based on our assumption that the current rally is driven primarily by the revaluation of companies in light of their latest earnings, we can surmise that the market may yet hit another soft patch once the impact of the number fades," Calaycay said.

Now that the "euphoria" is gone, he said investors would need a "fresh batch of news" to influence trades.

Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Among those that fell Jollibee Foods Corp., Universal Robina Corp., Semirara Mining Corp.