The Philippine Stock Exchange closed 28.45 points lower to 7,316.57. The broader market saw 111 declines, 64 gainers while 59 issues were unchanged.

Bucking the downtrend was Easy Call Communications, whose stock rose 21.13 percent to end at P4.70, outperforming the market.

Volume hit 1.27 billion shares worth P7.03 billion from Friday’s 1.9 billion shares valued at P14 billion.

Foreign selling reached P4.71 billion while foreign buying amounted to P3.78 billion.

The peso closed nine centavos higher to end at P50.09 against the US dollar. Volume at the Philippine Dealing System reached $441.3 million from Friday’s $444.2 million. DMS