Bargain hunters proved no match to investors who are keen on booking their gains, sending the Philippine stock market diving further on Wednesday.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index retreated by 2. 27 percent or 113.22 points to 4,864.23. The broader all-share index slipped by 1.61 percent or 53.40 points to 3,243.76.

Trading volume reached 3.16 billion shares worth 8.09 billion pesos (188.57 million U.S. dollars) with 127 stocks declining, 43 advancing and 31 unchanged.

All six counters ended lower, led by the mining and oil sector.

Wednesday's session saw investors remaining uncertain over the plight of the Philippine equities amidst the European crisis.

While bargain hunters initially pulled up the equities to an intra-day high of 5,004.76--27 points higher from Tuesday's close-- sellers quickly took advantage of the rally and sold down their shares.

"It would be best to check on momentum improvement as some players might seize on intra-day rises to exit until the situation in Europe clears," brokerage 2TradeAsia.com advises.

The technical relief brought about by the market's sharp drop after touching a record high two weeks ago proved to be temporary only.

Europe's dilemma has largely overshadowed positive developments locally, among which is the 5-percent growth in overseas Filipino workers' (OFW) remittances in March. OFW remittances reached 1.69 billion U.S. dollars in March, bringing total receipts to 4.48 billion U.S. dollars for the first quarter of the year.

The Philippine equities is not alone. The Dow Jones industrial average index has also lost 0.5 percent or 63.35 points on Tuesday. Similarly, Asian equities were trading in the negative.

Analysts said until Europe resolves its crisis, investors will remain wary of the stock market.

Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. DMCI Holdings, Inc. , Megaworld Corp., and Alliance Global Group, Inc. all went down.