MANILA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine stock market succumbed to profit taking on Thursday ahead of the long weekend.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index slipped by 0.66 percent or 49.27 points to 7,445.14, while the broader all-share index tumbled by 0.51 percent or 22.59 points to 4,419.30.
Trading volume reached 738 million shares worth 6.50 billion Philippine pesos with 102 stocks declining, 75 advancing, and 41 were unchanged.
Of the six counters, only the financials and the mining and oil sectors bucked the trend.
"The composite index stumbled for a sixth-straight session Thursday on low activity and still negative breadth. Rest of the region in a similar mood," analyst Justino Calaycay of A&A Securities, Inc. said in his daily stock market comment.
The analyst said there was a dearth of positive developments that could influence investors to enter the equities.
For one, European markets slipped weighed down by a drop in commodities and indications the Bank of England isn't leaning towards easy money.
Likewise, US stocks struggled with the Dow Jones industrial average index managing gains of 30 points late-in-the-session.
"With the market going into an extended weekend however, investors may simply opt to sit-out the week- and month-ending session Friday," he said.
Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly down. These include SM Prime Holdings, Inc., SM Investments Corp., and Ayala Corp.
