PHL share prices end marginally up as PLDT drops 3.38% on free Internet offer

Philippine shares coughed up minimal gains Monday as concerns over the earnings outlook of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) weighed on market sentiment after the telco offered free mobile Internet to prepaid subscribers for two months.

 

PLDT shares fell P108.00 or 3.38 percent to P3,090.00 from 3,198.00 Friday, PSE trading data showed. More than 481,900  shares were traded valued at P1.498B or 9.5 percent of the total market transaction.

 

The political unrest in Hong Kong also overshadowed the positive performance of Wall Street stocks.

 

The benchmark PSEi inched higher by 4.06 points or 0.06 percent to 7,265.36 at the close. The All Shares index added 0.52 points or 0.01 percent to 4,301.97.

 

Nearly 6.0962 billion shares worth P15.7094 billion were traded, including block sales that lifted the value of transactions. Advancers edged decliners, 93 to 85, while 43 issues were unchanged. 

 

The rebound of US stocks helped the index climb in early trading, but most investors eventually stayed on the sidelines due to a lack of significant leads to boost the market, Papa Securities Corp. analyst Freya Natividad told GMA News Online.

 

Some players were also concerned over how the free internet offering of Smart Communications Inc. to Smart, Talk 'N Text and Sun Cellular subscribers would impact on PLDT's earnings, she noted.

 

Last Friday, Smart Communications chairman Manuel Pangilinan announced that some 66 million mobile prepaid subscribers will have 30MB of free data access per day until November 30.

 

Add to that the political unrest in Hong Kong, which dampened market sentiment in the region, Natividad said.

 

Asian shares shrugged off Friday's Wall Street rebound in the face of political unrest in Hong Kong, Reuters reported. – VS, GMA News