This is on the back of the results of a Monetary Board (MB) meeting last Thursday, where the MB kept rates unchanged, citing an upside swing in the risk to inflation outlook from both transport and wage hike clamors.

Active stocks which dropped include PLDT (TEL) shedding P100 to settle at P2,525.00, Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) dropping P0.25 to close at P10.25, Ayala Corp. (AC) shedding P12.50 to close at P307.50, Globe Telecoms (GLO) declining by P15.00 to P1,420.00 and .

Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei ending higher while Hong Kong and Shanghai registering losses. Australian and New Zealand markets were closed for holiday. The Nikkei index was 271.03 points or 2.0 percent higher at 13,811.90 due to gains by exporting companies on the back of a weaker Yen. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 170.24 points or 0.66 percent to settle at 25,510.54.

The Dow rose 85.73 points or 0.7 percent to 12,848.95 on the back of gains in financial stocks, the resurgence of the dollar, and a drop in crude prices, although a 1.0 percent decline in mining shares limited it’s rise.. The S&P 500 rose 8.89 points or 0.6 percent to 1,388.82 on the back of an announcement by Merrill Lynch that it has enough cash to maintain dividend levels. The Nasdaq rose 23.71 points or 1.0 percent to 2,428.92 after share prices of Apple rose by 3.7 percent due to increases in share price estimates by analysts. Stock prices also reacted positively to news that initial jobless claims were smaller than market expectations and durable goods orders in March were higher than expected. The spate of good news erased losses in early trading due, which was caused by news of drops in profits by Starbucks and Amazon versus analyst estimates and news of a hefty drop in new home sales for March, as well as losses in energy stocks due to a drop in world crude prices.