Roundup:Philippine bourse closes lower on lack of leads

The Philippine stock market retreated further on Wednesday on lack of leads.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index slashed 0.23 percent or 16.39 points from its value to close Wednesday's session at 6,983.72, while the broader all-share index tumbled by 0.05 percent or 1.83 points to 4,039.03.

Trading volume reached 1.65 billion shares worth 7.8 billion Philippine pesos (165.23 million U.S. dollars) with 70 stocks advancing, 89 declining, and 53 were unchanged.

Two of the six counters bucked the trend. These were mining and oil and the property sectors.

"An uneventful session in the U.S. and European markets overnight left local investors grasping for strings to latch on to," analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in his daily stock market comment.

The analyst noted that with leads from the domestic front even thinner, most kept to the sideline while those who took action did so on the sell-side, pulling the local barometer lower for a sixth day. Asian markets were likewise mixed.

"The PSEi has fallen below the 2013 high since August 17 and has not been able to recover significant ground since. The best it has been able to do was 7,377.48 in intra-day trades last October 27," he said.

The analyst added that the earning reports that will be released from the remainder of this week and next week might help lead some investors.

"Given the flat-to-positive results so far, the market should steady around current levels. Any surprises on the upside should provide sufficient fodder for a short-term run until sentiments run against the wall of the US rates 'lift-off' by mid-December," he said.

Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Among those sold down were Jollibee Foods Corp., heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., and Ayala Corp. Endit