Iraq conflict drags down Phl stocks

MANILA, Philippines - Local stocks struggled yesterday under the weight of a mounting insurgency in Iraq and dismal US retail sales, analysts said.

The main benchmark index fell 24.23 points or 0.36 percent to close at 6,784.95 with a total of 1.84 billion shares changing hands.

Value turnover, however, improved to P7.76 billion from P7.61 billion Wednesday.

Decliners edged out advancers 121 to 57 while 41 issues were unchanged.

The mining counter suffered the biggest drop, shedding 1.18  percent followed by the property and holding firms indices.

Escalating civil war in Iraq drove oil to a nine-month high and has raised the prospect of further disruptions in OPEC’s second biggest oil producer.

Investors’ focus was on the rising violence in Iraq where an al Qaida-inspired group that  seized major cities, threatened to invade Baghdad as well in a bid to establish their own state in Iraq and Syria.

One of the cities lies in an area that is a major gateway for Iraqi oil.

President Barack Obama said he wouldn’t rule out using airstrikes to assist Iraq’s government.

The most actively traded stocks were BDO, Ayala Corp, SM Investments, Universal Robina and Alliance Global. IRipple, Da Vinci Capital and I-Remit were the top gainers, while Now Corp, Island Information and Abacore Capital were the biggest losers.