PSEi slips on first day of ‘ghost’ month

The local stock barometer slipped for the third straight session on Friday, the first trading day of the so-called “ghost month,” while investors priced in recent corporate earnings reports.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 31.36 points or 0.42 percent to close at 7,408.44. The property counter dragged the main index, declining by 1.74 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.17 billion. There were 62 advancers which were edged out by 103 decliners while 50 stocks were unchanged.

Bloomberry tumbled by 7.27 percent on follow-through selling after the gaming firm’s announcement of a P1.3-billion net loss for the first semester.

DMCI slid by 5.21 percent while SMPH fell by 4.63 percent.

Metrobank went down by 2.3 percent while ALI also fell by 1.32 percent. URC and GTCAP also declined.

On the other hand, SMIC and Megaworld firmed up by over 1 percent while PLDT, AC and ICTSI also gained.

As the second quarter corporate earnings reporting season drew to a close, the market also entered the “ghost month,” a period in the Lunar calendar when Chinese investors avoid making big-ticket investments or other big moves like getting married or moving to a new house.

This period also coincides during the season when many investors from the West take long summer breaks, thereby resulting in slower trading volumes.