Philippine stocks open weak in September

The Philippine stock market opened weak on the first day of the "ber" month as investors refuse to pour in more funds. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index fell by 0.22 percent or 13.37 points to 6,061.80, while the broader all-share index gained 0.26 percent or 9.65 points to 3,712.03. Trading volume reached 20.38 billion shares worth 6.31 billion pesos (142.05 million U.S. dollars) with 77 stocks declining, 66 advancing, and 44 were unchanged. Of the six counters, only the industrial and the holding firm sectors managed to avoid Monday's carnage. Analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said investors are trying to "strike a balance between and among" the recent developments overseas. While improving economic numbers from China and the resurgent bullish outlook for the domestic economy following last week's GDP report might have given investors some bullet to brave the equities, investors remain wary of Syria and the U.S. Federal Reserves. "Sentiments will be pulled between technical considerations and faith in the economic fundamentals," Calaycay said. At the very least, the analyst said technical indicators are sending warnings of short-term volatility which makes the local equities risky. Nevertheless, with China's manufacturing expanding to a nearly year-and-a-half high at 51.0, this might have heightened confidence that the slowdown experienced in the two previous quarters may have been reversed. The analyst advises investors to keep a close tab on the local equities especially when the buy flag is raised. Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Among those picked up were SM Investments Corp., Alliance Global Group, Inc., and GT Capital Holdings, Inc.