Index drops below 6,700 on profit taking

MANILA, Philippines - Lackluster performance of markets abroad rubbed off on local equities, with the benchmark index dropping below the 6,700 level.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index declined 0.69 percent or 46.23 points to 6,685.10, marking its third straight day in the negative territory. The broader all shares index slipped 0.51 percent or 20.71 points to 4,034.16.

Investors failed to secure encouraging leads from Wall Street and Asian markets.

Wall Street was timid on Thursday as gains were limited by weaker-than-expected earnings data of companies like Verizon Communications Inc. and 3M Co. The Dow Jones industrial average was unchanged at 16,501.65 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up 0.17 percent or 3.22 points to end at 1,878.61.

Closer to home, anxiety persisted after US Secretary of State John Kerry announced that time was running out for Moscow to change its course in Ukraine.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, Singapore’s Straits Times, South Korea’s KOSPI and China’s Shanghai Composite index were all in the red.

At home, most counters were in the red, paced by mining and oil that fell 1.36 percent or 215.13 points to 15,591.33. Only the service sector bucked the trend as it rose 0.25 percent or 5.02 points to 1,992.15.

Value turnover eased anew, with P6.6 billion worth of shares changing hands from P6.77 billion on Thursday.

Decliners dominated advancers, 103 to 67, while 41 stocks did not change.