Ayala sale weighs down market

The local stock barometer was a tad lower on Thursday, weighed down by a discounted place-out of Ayala Corp. shares.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 0.54 point or 0.007 percent to close at 7,268.95 in mixed trade. The holding firm and mining/oil counters dragged the index lower while the industrial, services and property counters eked out modest gains.

Trading was halted at the local bourse from 1:46 pm to 2:30 pm due to a technical glitch. But the session was not extended despite the disruption.

Value turnover was heavy at P21.09 billion, bloated by a $275-million sale of Ayala shares at P660 a share or a discount to Wednesday’s close of P717. Ayala thus fell by 4.88 percent to close at P682 a share.

There were 98 decliners that edged out 84 advancers while 42 stocks were unchanged.

Apart from Ayala, the PSEi was weighed down by BDO Unibank (-1.39 percent) while Bloomberry, Aboitiz Power and JG Summit also declined.

On the other hand, SM Prime and BPI bucked the downturn, both rising more than 1 percent, while PLDT, Universal Robina, GT Capital, Alliance Global and ICTSI also firmed up slightly.

Outside of PSEi stocks, the notable gainers were newly listed retailer SSI (+2.59 percent) and agribusiness firm Vitarich (+6.06 percent). CMT fell 1.65 percent after sizzling in the last few days while PLC also dipped by 1.44 percent.

Elsewhere in the region, trading was mostly soured by the US Federal Reserve minutes, which indicated concerns on low US inflation. There was likewise caution ahead of the release of the latest US jobless data report. Doris C. Dumlao