Philippines share prices closed 0.36 percent lower on Friday as investors took profits on blue chips, offsetting gains in the broader market, dealers said. They said the composite index hit a fresh record high early in the session but investors later changed their minds and sold in the face of a lack of fresh leads.
It finished 13.43 points down at 3,701.16 after hitting a new trading high of 3,730.26. It hit a low of 3,687.00 points. However, the all-share index edged up 0.72 points to 2,375.71. Turnover reached 14.3 billion shares worth 19.4 billion pesos (420.8 million dollars). The large turnover was boosted by block transactions involving shares of low-cost housing developer CP Homes worth 12.0 billion pesos, ahead of the stock's delisting on Monday.
The local currency traded at 46.094 to the dollar. There were 62 advancers and 56 decliners, while 55 stocks were unchanged. "The recent record-breaking run has produced handsome gains for a lot of issues in the market and now we're seeing a correction," said Lawrence de Leon of Accord Capital Equities.
"However, investors in general are still very optimistic that the market will continue to test new record levels," he added. PLDT or Philippine Long Distance Telephone, the nation's biggest company by market capitalisation, was down 20 pesos at 2,690.
Metropolitan Bank and Trust, the country's biggest lender in terms of assets, fell one peso to 74. San Miguel A rose three pesos to 71.50 while its B shares advanced 1.50 pesos to 77 following a local newspaper report on Friday that property-based SM Investments may bid for the government's 24 percent stake in the food and beverage group.
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