51.   Philippine shares fell Wednesday as the market scrounged for positive news against a backdrop of negative sentiment toward Asian equities, traders said.

52.   Analysts said the worsening regional currency situation and softening Asian equity markets were to blame.

53.   Earlier in the month, Spanish bank Banco Santander announced that it had offered to take over the core Asian equities division of Peregrine.

54.   Its major investment products are Asian equities and the country funds of most Asian countries, including Malaysia.

55.   NatWest has also sold part of its Asian equities business to Deutsche Morgan Grenfell.

56.   Only now, it appears more credible as the American investment bank recently decided to opt out of the Asian equities business following the turmoil in the region.

57.   Stocks also declined as investor sentiment remained negative toward Asian equities after two days of losses on Wall Street, brokers said.

58.   The Dutch bank said the move will allow it to focus on strengthening its European and Asian equities and corporate finance activities.

59.   Global fund managers Dresdner Thornton Asset Management of Germany and Templeton Asset Management Ltd. of the United States launched competing unit trusts here Monday to invest in Asian equities.

60.   Both Templeton and Dresdner Thornton are focussing on under-performing Asian equities which have fallen to attractively low levels and offer potential for high capital growth.