PHL shares trail Wall Street decline, end morning trades lower

Philippine shares ended the morning session in negative territory Thursday, trailing declines overnight on Wall Street.

 

"The market is red,” Brian Ramos, analyst at Angping & Associates Securities Inc., told GMA News Online. “We're tracking the US market, which was down due to speculations that the central bank will stop its bond money program if economy points to recovery.

 

"Technically there was little trading. Out muna ang investors sa market, re-balancing their funds," he added.

 

The main PSEi was down 12.91 points or 0.18 percent to 7,372.16 at the noon recess. The broader all-shares index shed 5.27 points or 0.12 percent to 4,528.93.

 

Only the property subsector was in the green, up 0.22 percent.

 

"For the industrial, URC (Universal Robina Corp.) weighed down the sector as it declined by 1.16 percent while AUB (Asia United Bank) dragged the financials down with a 2.65 percent drop—the lowest since it's IPO date," Ramos said.

 

According to Reuters, US stocks fell on Wednesday with the S&P 500 posting its biggest decline in three weeks, after minutes from the latest US Federal Reserve meeting showed some officials were open to tapering large-scale asset purchases as early as at the June meeting.

 

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 80.41 points, or 0.52 percent, at 15,307.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 13.81 points, or 0.83 percent, at 1,655.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 38.82 points, or 1.11 percent, at 3,463.30. — VS, GMA News