Philippine stocks fall; investors now looking for bargains
pse.com.ph photo
MANILA, Philippines—Local share prices closed in the red on Wednesday but trimmed losses in morning trade as investors looked for bargains, risking current profits for the prospects of more in the coming months.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) lost a marginal 12.37 points, or 0.20 percent, to close at 6,092.53 on Wednesday. The index fell to as low as 6,086.44 but rebounded after the noontime break.
Brokerage firm Accord Capital said investors were “willing to risk current profits for the prospect of more—or what they choose to refer to as maximizing the potential.”
The index also tracked losses among Asian stocks “as investors in the region adjusted for valuations which had reached two-year highs,” Accord Capital said.
The broader All-Shares index was flat, slipping just 0.02 percent as 91 decliners outnumbered 62 advancers.
Financials and property shares were in the green, rising 0.08 percent and 0.36 percent, respectively. The drop, meanwhile, was led by the services sector, dragged down by Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), which fell 1 percent on Wednesday.
Over 4.32 billion shares changed hands at P12.83 billion, with total trades reaching 24,845.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) shares were the day’s most traded, losing 2.24 percent to close at P4.80. This followed the company’s announcement that it sold P6.2 billion worth of shares at P4.80 each.
