Manila, July 28: Financial markets plunged early today in response to a failed mutiny by nearly 300 soldiers, but prices quickly bottomed out and regained some of their losses as traders focused on the quick, peaceful resolution to the crisis. "It didn't drag on like previous coup attempts," said Mark Alan Canizares, an investment analyst at the citiseconline.com brokerage who predicted the fallout in the stock exchange would be short-lived. "The fact that it was resolved by the time the markets opened is a positive sign that the government is doing all it can do. It tempered the damage that might have been done if the mutiny had dragged on."

Stocks tumbled by 4 per cent in the first few minutes of trade but they soon showed a partial recovery, down by just 2.5 per cent after a half hour. The Philippine peso fell 1.1 per cent at the open but more than halved those losses by midmorning, trading down .44 per cent at 54.25 to the US dollar. Blue chip stocks that took major hits at the outset were soon bouncing back. But many investors were staying out of the market, watching for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's state of the nation address to be delivered late in the afternoon.

"They're waiting for the smoke to clear," Canizares said.

Philippine share prices had moved sharply higher this year, up by 26 per cent before the crisis unfolded over the weekend, and some investors took the trouble as a cue to sell and bank their profits. Analysts warned the mutiny could further spook outside investors who have worried for some time about stability in this developing Southeast Asian island nation. Bureau Report