RP stocks down sharply in mid-trade

MANILA, Philippines- Share prices were falling sharply during mid-trading Friday, mirroring the large losses suffered by Wall Street overnight. As of 10:33 am, the 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index had tumbled 68.99 points or 2.21 percent to 3,047.85 while the all-share index had dropped 36.87 points or 1.94 percent to 1,867.81. Losers were whipping gainers 75 to 11 while 33 stocks were steady. Volume being traded had reached 319.97 million valued at P881.57 million. Alejandro Yu, R.S. Lim and Co. Inc. president, said the local bourse's movement was just a reflection of the US stocks. "(Dow Jones) went down again by 214 points, and we tend to commiserate with them. The rest of the Asian markets are also weak," he said. Yu added that the rising price of oil is also aggravating inflationary fears locally. Oil prices have risen to new records on renewed supply concerns. - Cheryl Arcibal, GMANews.TV