RP stocks drop sharply on Wall Street weakness

MANILA, Philippines- Share prices fell sharply on Friday, mirroring the large losses suffered by Wall Street overnight, analysts said. The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index tumbled 88.11 points or 2.83 percent to 3,028.73 while the all-share index plunged 45.66 points or 2.40 percent to 1,859.02. Losers trampled gainers 95 to 19 while 41 stocks were unchanged. Volume traded reached 1.11 billion valued at P3.68 billion. 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. Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. dropped P1 or 2.90 percent to P33.50. Lopez-led electricity distributor Manila Electric Co. was steady at P79. Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the country's largest lender in terms of assets, slid P2 or 4.82 percent to P39.50. Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. plummeted P55 or 1.90 percent to P2,845. Sy holding company SM Investments Corp. slipped P15 or 5.08 percent to P280. - Cheryl Arcibal, GMANews.TV