By Leslie D. Venzon
MANILA, (PNA) –- Persistent fears that the Federal Reserve may quicken tapering sent Philippine stocks lower for a second day on Monday.
The benchmark Philippine stock exchange index declined 41.99 points to 6,543.39 from previous day’s 6,585.38 close.
“Liquidity appears to have been tapped out by the series of initial public offerings, alongside emerging concerns over Fed tapering turning on the lever of risk,” said Jun Calaycay, an analyst at Accord Capital Equities Corp.
Calaycay said investors do not appear convinced there remains room for an upside in the final two months of the year despite the rosy picture for the economy and decent earnings scorecard through the first nine months.
Almost all counters fell moderately, except property stocks that gained 0.37 percent.
Total volume turnover was thin at 1.25 billion valued at P6.59 billion.
Decliners won advancers, 89 to 58, while 38 issues were unchanged.
The day’s biggest losers were Forum Pacific Inc., Greenergy Holdings Inc., IP E-Game Ventures Inc., Maybank ATR Kim Eng Financial Corp. and Starmalls Inc.