Philippines shares end 1.29 percent lower

Philippines share prices closed 1.29 percent lower on Monday as investors cashed in on recent gains, tracking the weakness in other markets in Asia after US stocks slid on Friday, dealers said.
A plan by the Philippine Stock Exchange to review 15 capital-deficient companies as part of efforts to weed out unwarranted stock price speculation also dampened investor sentiment, they said. The composite index lost 47.58 points at 3,653.58. The broader all-share index fell 25.96 points to 2,349.75.
Losers clobbered winners 98 to 31, while 45 stocks ended unchanged. A total of 6.7 billion shares worth 4.2 billion pesos (91.30 million dollars) were traded. Jose Vistan of AB Capital Securities said investors fretted about the recent rise in US bond yields although the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 5.14 percent on Friday from 5.20 percent late Thursday.
"The movement of the yields on US bonds gives an indication on how the US Fed will move and recent movements are creating a bias for interest rates to go up, so investors here are also getting nervous," Vistan said.
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep its key interest rate at 5.25 percent when it holds its policy meeting this week although traders will be focusing on the statement that will accompany the decision.
Unicapital Securities research head Ron Rodrigo said the local stock exchange's plan to look into rising speculative trades on shares of small companies also kept some investors at bay. "The stern warning scared investors who are purely playing on speculation but have not been looking into fundamentals of these companies," he said.
"If the companies prove they have no firm plans to raise their capitalisation, it could be a ground for delisting, so investors are now taking initiative to cash in on profits made earlier," added Rodrigo. Philippine Long Distance Telephone or PLDT led the day's decliners, losing 50 pesos at 2,640.
Investors also took profits on shares of conglomerate Ayala Corp and its property unit Ayala Land. Ayala Corp gave up 10 pesos to 560 and Ayala Land lost 50 centavos to 17.75 pesos.
San Miguel edged up as investors remained hopeful that the government would be able to sell its remaining 24 percent stake, following the recent sale of shares of state pension fund Social Security System in the company. San Miguel's A-shares, restricted to local investors, rose two pesos to 73.50, while its B-shares, open to foreigners, added 1.50 pesos to 78.50.