RP shares close 3.42% lower

Jan	07
2009

| 11/18/2008 1:25 PM

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Philippine share prices closed 3.42 percent lower Tuesday on concerns that an expected recession in the United States may be worse than originally thought, dealers said.

The composite index fell 66.40 points to 1,873.60 points, while the all-shares index fell 2.76 percent to 1,217.32 points.

There were eight gainers compared to 86 losers and 26 unchanged.

Turnover totalled 751.8 billion shares worth P1.202 billion ($24.07 million). The local currency traded at 49.942 to the dollar.

"It's primarily still due to concerns over the United States," said George Ching of Citiseconline.

"If you look at it fundamentally, nothing has changed. The US is still expected to go through a recession and the concern now is how deep the recession will be," he said.

"They are concerned that the recession would be deeper than what everyone expected," considering that the economic data coming out of the United States is worse than what many economists had projected.

"On the local side, I don't think there is any news that would change the direction of the market," he said.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. fell 4.25 percent to P2,140 while Ayala Corp. slipped 4.9 percent to P192.

Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. bucked the trend, staying unchanged at P22.

San Miguel Corp. saw its A shares fall by 3.26 percent to P4.50 while its B shares fell 1.09 percent to P45.

as of 11/18/2008 3:04 PM