Roundup: Philippine stocks decline on profit-taking

Profit-taking pulled down the shortened trading week of the Philippine stock market.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index opened the three- day trading session down by 0.60 percent or 44.36 points to 7,358. 36, while the broader all-share index slipped by 0.37 percent or 16.23 points to 4,320.67.

Trading volume reached 2.06 billion shares worth 23.69 billion Philippine pesos (527.07 million U.S. dollars) with 69 stocks advancing, 111 declining and 44 unchanged.

"Session was ripe for a technical breather given the market's recent ascent," online brokerage 2TradeAsia.com said in its daily stock market comment.

The upcoming Papal visit has also contributed to the selling pressure given that trading session this week will last until Wednesday.

"While the short-term charts now show a bullish picture driven by the 10-day rally, the long-term, monthly charts still suggest some weakness. Both time horizons in fact suggest that the PSEI is deep into overbought territory," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment.

2TradeAsia.com, however, appeased investors that the stable borrowing cost and benign inflation will keep investors hooked into the market.

Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Investors sold down Ayala Land, Inc., SM Investments Corp. and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. Endi