Philippine stocks sink as investors worry over Italian vote

MANILA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua)-- Profit takers pulled down the Philippine stock market on Tuesday.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 1.35 percent or 90.66 points to 6,630.67. The broader all-share index retreated by 0.77 percent or 32.07 points to 4,144.87.

Trading volume reached 2.03 billion shares worth 10.49 billion pesos (257.83 billion U.S. dollars) with 111 stocks declining, 55 advancing, and 43 unchanged.

All six counters closed in the negative.

Analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said investors took note of the 216-point drop of the Dow Jones industrial average index to start booking their gains.

"It was a day filled with a menu of negative news from Europe," Calaycay said.

Among the negative developments cited by the analyst was the latest election in Italy. Investors are worried over projections in Italy that showed no political coalition is strong enough to form a government. This might lead to political deadlocks that could lead to another Euro-zone crisis.

Italy is divided between those pushing for austerity measures as a means to restore the economy back to health and the populists, who oppose such measures.

In the U.S., Calaycay said investors are growing apprehensive over the developments in Europe and ahead of a spate of economic data this week.

Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly down. These issues were SM Investments Corp., Ayala Corp., and Ayala Land, Inc.

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