AP ,,, Philippine Shares End Down 29 Points
Friday May 13, 3:25 am ET
Philippine Shares End Down 29 Points on Wall Street, VAT Woes and Farm Data
MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Philippine shares finished lower Friday for the fourth straight session, spooked by Wall Street's steep fall Thursday, on concerns over the implementation of amendments to the value-added tax law and weak first-quarter farm data, traders said.
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The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index ended with a loss of 29.36 points, or 1.5 percent, at 1,882.39 after shedding 0.5 percent Thursday.
Friday's decline brings the total index loss to 3.3 percent since Tuesday.
All sectorial indicators closed lower. Decliners led gainers 61 to nine, while 48 stocks were unchanged.
Ayala Corp. dropped 4.1 percent to 7.10 pesos, despite reporting a sharp rise in first-quarter net profit and enjoying an increase in its weighting on the Morgan Stanley Capital International Emerging Markets Index.
Bank of the Philippine Islands lost 3 percent to end at 49 pesos. The country's second-largest bank in terms of assets also enjoyed a weighting increase in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
ABS-CBN fell 7.1 percent to 13 pesos after posting Thursday a first-quarter net loss as the country's largest media broadcasting network lost viewership share to rival GMA Network.
Banco de Oro, though, rose 1.8 percent to 28.50 pesos after it was included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The commercial bank also reported Thursday a 42 percent year-on-year rise in first-quarter net profit.
Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.1 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 0.4 percent.
Among the concerns hounding the market are obstacles facing the implementation of amendments to the value-added tax law, as well as its potentially adverse impact on business and consumer demand.
The latest farm data released by the government Thursday also contributed to the market's woeful performance.
The Department of Agriculture reported that farm output in the first quarter rose only 0.55 percent on-year, much slower than the 7.93 percent growth recorded in the first quarter of last year due to typhoons late last year and the prevailing drought.
Since agriculture accounts for about 20 percent of the country's gross domestic product, the sector's weak first-quarter performance will likely drag down first-quarter economic numbers, due at the end of May.
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