Roundup: Philippine bourse close lower on profit-taking

Profit taking after the Philippine equities' successive record high performances pulled down the index on Wednesday.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 0.57 percent or 45.99 points to 8,052.69, while the broader all share index slipped by 0.40 percent or 18.69 points to 4,610.10.

Trading volume reached 1.31 billion shares worth 8.37 billion Philippine pesos (188.94 million U.S. dollars) with 83 stocks advancing, 86 declining and 58 unchanged.

Of the six counters, only the service sector bucked the trend.

"Share tumbled anew at mid-week trades, ahead of a one-day holiday as investors struck a balance between and among fresh external leads and snapped an eight-session, recordsetting spree by the PSEi," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment.

The Philippine market will stay shut through Thursday in observance of the Day of Valor.

Major markets in the region were trending higher, however, with the Nikkei and Hang Seng leading the pack.

U.S. stocks advanced on interest rate bets and later fell overnight as investors grew concerned over earnings. Earlier, European markets rallied in a positive reaction to U.S. economic data and the latest round of news out of the Greek financial saga.

"How much money to make in a bull market is a happy, enlightening and lively debate. But debating on when this will snap and by what magnitude is less inviting," Calaycay said.

Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly down. These include Ayala Corp. and mall giant SM Prime Holdings, Inc. Endi