Profit-taking continues to hound local share prices

Profit-taking continued to hound the local stock market yesterday with the main composite index shedding another 9.74 points to close at 5,246.41.

The index drop reflected “more of the repositioning by the investors for the 3rd quarter,” said Freya Trinidad, investment analyst at F. Yap Securities Inc.

A total of 3.03 billion shares valued at P43.90 billion were traded in the session.

The peso value reflected a cross transaction of San Miguel Corp. shares, bought and sold by a single brokerage for the benefit of San Miguel president Ramon Ang.

Despite the slight drop, market breadth was positive with advancers outnumbering decliners 111 to 60, with 34 issues unchanged.

Apart from the San Miguel transaction, investors were noticeably changing portfolios by catching shares that have been run down by the market, Natividad noted.

The modest volume, excluding the San Miguel, transaction, also signals the market is in a consolidation phase, she said.

“Since the market is consolidating, it’s normal that the participation is thinner. It might pick up when momentum begins,” Natividad added.

Meanwhile, world stock markets and the euro rose sharply yesterday after European leaders hammered out a strategy aimed at stanching an escalating financial crisis among the 17 countries that use the euro.

Leaders who gathered in Brussels made unexpected progress on the second and fi nal day of a summit convened to map out a plan to turn around the continent’s economy. Investors had expected the summit — like so many meetings before it — would not produce a solution powerful enough to restore the confidence of markets.

European stock markets bolted higher in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.5 percent to 5,576.67. Germany’s DAX surged 2.6 percent to 6,310.43 and France’s CAC-40 jumped 2.7 percent to 3,134.65.