Philippine shares outlook - Lower on Wall Street retreat

Philippine shares outlook - Lower on Wall Street retreat

	Published : Tue, 16 Oct 2007 01:10 By : Agencies Print this Story

MANILA (Thomson Financial) - Philippine shares may open lower Tuesday after Wall Street pulled back as news that major US banks set up a fund aimed at bailing out credit markets raised fresh worries about bad loans

particularly in the housing market.

The surge in oil prices to record levels also sparked selling. Crude oil spiked to a fresh record of 86.22 dollars per barrel before settling at 86.13 dollars on the New York Mercantile Exchange

Monday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said crude production by countries that aren't OPEC members is probably falling despite rising demand.

'We can expect profit-taking, the market is headed in the direction of the overseas markets,' said Astro del Castillo, managing director of First Grade Holdings.

Del Castillo said the local equities market, while fundamentally strong, remains prone to more

surprises from the US credit crisis.

'At this point, we are not badly affected with many investors believing that the worst is over, but still the market is hostage to what is happening abroad.'

On Monday, Manila's composite index finished up 37.18 points or nearly 1 percent at 3,861.38.

Accord Capital Equities said investors will be tempted to cash in recent gains.

'This can be a good respite for local equities since share prices have significantly risen by 426 points or 12.4 percent in the last three weeks,' said Claire Quiray, analyst at Accord Capital.

Mining stocks may rise further as gold prices edged up Monday. The most-active December gold contract rose 8.40 dollars or 1.1 percent to 762.20 dollars an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Shares of index leader Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co could decline again after its New

York-traded American Depositary Receipts fell 1 percent to 67.80 dollars.

(1 US dollar = 44.05 pesos)

rocel.felix@thomson.com

rf/ms

The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.