MANILA, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine stock market extended its losses on Monday following the drop in the U.S. equities.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index slipped by 0.33 percent or 23.65 points to 7,245.97, while the broader all-share index declined by 0.15 percent or 6.74 points to 4,370.
Trading volume reached 1.01 billion shares worth 7.76 billion Philippine pesos (155 million U.S. dollars) with 81 stocks advancing, 90 declining, and 51 were unchanged.
Three of the six counters bucked the trend. These were services, mining and oil, and the property sectors. Online brokerage 2TradeAsia.com said the local equities was expected to trade lower as concerns now arise on the possibility of delay in implementing the tax reform program in U.S..
"This was on the back of the U.S. government's failure to secure enough votes to repeal the healthcare bill," it said.
Analyst Justino Calaycay of A&A Securities, Inc. said investors should be conscious of the relative weakness on the upside as evidenced by the composite index's inability to sustainably break past the resistance mark and its resilience on the downside.
Stocks in the 30-company index ended mixed. Investors picked up shares of the Bank of Philippine Islands and index heavyweight PLDT, Inc. but sold down Ayala Land, Inc.
