Roundup: Philippine bourse closes lower on lack of conviction

The Philippine stock market closed Tuesday's session slightly lower on lack of conviction among buyers.

After rallying back to the 7,100 level during the trading, the bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index erased all the gains it made and ended 0.17 percent or 11.95 points lower to 7,086.86. The broader all-share index likewise shed off 0.29 percent or 11.59 points to 4,044.49.

Trading volume reached 1.58 billion shares worth 10.29 billion Philippine pesos (220.50 million U.S. dollars) with 110 stocks declining, 63 advancing, and 42 were unchanged.

Three of the six counters bucked the trend. These were financials, holding firms, and the property sectors.

"Having recouped its poise above the 7,000 barrier, local equities started the week on the plus side as contrarians park excess cash in large caps trodden by the recent rout," online brokerage 2TradeAsia.com said in its daily stock market comment.

The index opened the session down by 33 points before buying picked up and brought it to an intra-day high of 7,139.74.

As expected however, 2TradeAsia.com said the upsides were limited by some foreign players who seized on any rises to exit due to the U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike.

Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Among those picked up were Ayala Land, Inc., Alliance Global Group, Inc., and SM Prime Holdings, Inc. Endi