Stock index drops to 1-month low

THE Philippine key stock index on Thursday fell to its lowest in more than a month, led by a slide in Philex Mining Corp. as gold prices tumbled.
       The Philippine Stock Exchange Index lost 23.25, or 1 percent, to close at 2,229.33 at noon in Manila. That’s the lowest since April 19 and rounds off a three-day, 5.5-percent decline. Losers outnumbered gainers 71 to 26.
       Philex, the country’s biggest gold miner, plunged 45 centavos, or 11 percent, to P3.50. Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co., which also mines gold, dropped 1 centavos, or 3.3 percent, to 29 centavos.
       Gold futures for June delivery on Wednesday fell $36.20, or 5.4 percent, to $637.50 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, as price swings drove some investors out of the market. That was the biggest one-day fall since August 1993. Last week, the price of the metal slid 7.6 percent, the largest weekly drop since 1990.
       “Fund managers are slowing down” their investment in gold and other commodities, said Harry Liu, president of Summit Securities Inc. “Gold has gone up $300 so there’s a lot of clearing out. Prices are getting practical.”
       In Asian trading Wednesday, gold rose 1 percent to $644.10 an ounce at 12:35 p.m. Manila time. It’s gained 54 percent in the past year.
       Elsewhere, Equitable PCI Bank, the nation’s third-largest lender, climbed P5, or 8.3 percent, to P65 as some investors viewed Wednesday’s 15-percent slump excessive. The drop resulted in a 14-day relative strength index of 21; a level below 30 suggests to some analysts the stock is likely to rise.
       In the overall market, trading totaled P1.7 billion ($33 million), about 4-percent more than the average over the past six months. Bloomberg