MANILA – Philippine share prices stretched their losing streak to a fourth session on Thursday after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting showed the US central bank may withdraw its economic stimulus sooner-than-expected.
At the Philippine Stock Exchange, the composite index tumbled 32.45 points or 0.53 percent to close at 6,122.89. The local barometer fell by as much as 1.73 percent to 6,155.34 in early trade.
The property counter fell 2.2 percent and the financial index shed 1.96 percent to drag the market lower.
There were nearly four decliners for every gainer. A total of 853.19 million stocks worth P8.54 billion changed hands.
Most actively traded stocks were Metrobank, Robinsons Retail, Ayala Land, ICTSI and PLDT. Top gainers were Benguet B, AG Finance and Benguet A, while the biggest losers were Jolliville, Discovery World and Marcventures.
"Comments coming from Fed officials overnight are indicating a tapering could happen as early as December if the November jobs data comes positive," said Jose Vistan of AB Capital Securities Inc.
Minutes from the Fed's latest meeting showed the US economy was steadily improving to warrant a reduction in its bond-buying program in the "coming months." The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 66.21 points or 0.4 percent to 15,900.82.
The US central bank's $85-billion bond-buying program – the third tranche of what has come to be called “quantitative easing” (QE3) – has been a key driver of equities rallies in the past several months.
Investors remain highly sensitive to signals that a pullback is imminent on worries that the withdrawal of support may come at a time when the US economy is not strong enough. The Fed’s next policy meeting is set on December 17-18.
"Even before today's tapering concern, the market's direction has been downwards following the revised GDP projection brought about by the typhoon," Vistan said.
Concerns about the stimulus pullback were aggravated by the downward revision of the Philippines' gross domestic product growth forecast because of typhoon 'Yolanda.'
"The very negative sentiment is a reflection of things to come, concerns about the inevitable things," Vistan said.
The chief of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) earlier said fourth-quarter GDP growth would take a hit from Yolanda.
GDP is the amount of final goods and services produced in the country and as such measures economic performance.
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