Stock price index slips on profit-taking; foreigners still net buyers
The local stock barometer slipped yesterday as investors pocketed some gains after a three-day rally.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 38.83 points or 0.49 percent to close at 7,923.50, tracking the correction in some regional markets as the French election euphoria faded.
As the PSEi declined, however, foreign investors remained upbeat on local equities, resulting in P1.19 billion in net foreign buying for the day.
Marvin Fausto, mutual fund expert at stockbrokerage COL and president of IFE Management Advisers Inc., said the rally in the past few days had been liquidity-driven as the rate increase paused in the US and the Philippine tax reform was moving given the approval at the Congress committee level.
“But what is important is that investors should rebalance portfolios, taking out tactical or trading exposures due to valuations while maintaining their strategic or long-term positions to ride this growth,” he said.
The day’s decline was led by the mining/oil counter, which fell by 1.08 percent. Only the holding firm sub-index stayed afloat.
Value turnover for the day amounted to P9.67 billion.
There were 128 decliners that edged out 83 advancers while 41 stocks were unchanged.
First Gen was the most battered PSEi stock, declining by 7.16 percent as it reported a 29.5 percent year-on-year drop in first-quarter net profit to $41.3 million.
PLDT fell by 2.49 percent while SM Prime, URC, Semirara and Metrobank slipped by more than 1 percent.
BPI, Ayala Corp., BDO, JG Summit, Megaworld and Aboitiz Equity Ventures also declined.
On the other hand, ICTSI gained 2.11 percent after reporting a 23-percent growth in first-quarter net profit to $51.7 million on higher volume, tariff increases and new businesses.
GT Capital gained 1.17 percent while SM Investments, Security Bank and Petron also rose.
One notable gainer outside the PSEi was Philrealty, which racked up 15.07 percent. This property developer officially exited court-assisted rehabilitation early this year.
