MANILA - First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC) and Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) each fell over 7% in early trade on Friday after the conglomerate forged a $471 million deal to sell half of its stake in the power retailer.

First Holdings slipped to as low as P53.50 ($1.1) before paring losses to reach P55.5, down 4.3%, in the first 20 minutes of trade.

Meralco dropped to as low as P202, down 8.6%.

"Some speculators opted to take profit," said Astro del Castillo, managing director at First Grade Holdings. "They are taking a breather after 4 to 5 days of (corporate) stand-off."

On Thursday, First Holdings said it would sell a 6.7% stake in Meralco to Metro Pacific Investments Co. (MPIC), boosting the control of the PLDT group on the utility.

MPIC was down 1.59% at 0152 GMT as the main index was largely flat.