The Philippine index had risen 31.6 percent so far this year, Southeast Asia's second best performer. It surged to a record finish of 5,831.50 on December 11, entering extreme overbought readings and prompting a technical-led selling, traders said. Market investors were hopeful of a prospect of sovereign rating upgrade which was supportive for further market rise, they said.
A Reuters analysis of Philippines companies with a market cap of greater than $50 million shows that the broker recommendations have not changed materially over the last 90 days. The average rating score of the Philippines stocks went up marginally over the last 90 days to 2.39 from 2.47, Thomson Reuters data showed. Thailand's SET index finished at 1,378.40, the highest since February 1996. Vietnam rose 1.3 percent to a two-month high as brokers kept positive views.