Roundup: Philippine bourse closes lower despite positive overseas markets performance

The Philippine stock market ended lower on Wednesday even after the positive developments of overseas markets.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 0.18 percent or 13.91 points to 7,833.03, while the broader all-share index slipped by 0.16 percent or 7.09 points to 4,478.99.

Trading volume reached 1.05 billion shares worth 7.9 billion Philippine pesos (178.37 million U.S. dollars) with 108 stocks declining, 75 advancing and 41 unchanged.

Of the six counters, the holding firm and the mining and oil sectors bucked the trend.

"European and U.S. stocks finished the first day of the week's trades on a highly positive note lending encouragement for bargain hunters in the local scene. Markets in the Asia Pacific cheered this development, pushing pessimism aside, at least for the moment, " analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment.

The PSEi initially appeared poised to snap a three-session decline before the bears seized control and wiped out an early surge of almost 20 points.

Externally, focus is on Greece as it finds ways to meet a payment coming due later this month after creditors refused to extend the deadline.

Likewise, Calaycay said anticipations over the timing of the U. S. Federal Reserve's action on interest rates have kept investors on edge.

2TradeAsia.com however said players might soon come out scouting for bargains after the market's four-day losing streak.

Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Among those sold down were BDO Unibank, Inc., Globe Telecom, Inc. and the Bank of Philippine Islands.

Investors however picked up shares of DMCI Holdings, Inc., Megaworld Corp. and Alliance Global Group, Inc. Endi