Decliners led gainers in directionless trading Monday on the Philippine Stock Exchange, as investors remain cautious about the euro debt crisis.
The main PSE index advanced 18.51 points or 0.38 percent to close at 4,802.03.
Losers led gainers 87 to 85, and 38 issues closed unchanged.
More than 7.544 billion shares valued at P7.766 changed hands.
The market sentiment was mixed and the wait-and-see attitude was reflected by the fact that gainers were limited, said Freya Trinidad, research analyst at F. Yap Securities Inc.
The market remains on “a wait-and-see mood for the eurozone finance ministers’ meeting on Feb. 15,” Natividad added.
“The S&P 500 posted its biggest daily percentage decline thus far in 2012 on Friday after an about-face on Greece's long-awaited debt deal ended a five-week streak of gains for equities” according to a Reuters report over the weekend.
Investors have anxiously awaited a bailout package for Greece so the country might avoid a messy default, Reuters noted.
An agreement finally came this week but almost immediately ran into problems when European leaders called for additional austerity measures and some Greek lawmakers said they would not support the deal, according to the report.
"Investors are trying to determine how disruptive this could end up being, and if you want to be invested in a group like financials, you need to be very careful in your positioning," Reuters reported, citing Duncan Richardson, chief equity investment officer at Eaton Vance in Boston. "There's still a lot of concern out there, and that gets amplified by any setback like this."
The positive sentiment for Philippine shares is coming from “expectations of good 2011 earnings…” that “continue to keep investors on the upbeat,” said Jonathan Ravelas, market strategist at BDO Unibank.
He said “the market is expected to try the 4,850 level in the near term.” —With Reuters
