PH stock index sheds more points on profit-taking

The stock market started the week bludgeoned by profit-taking but the pullback only attracted fresh buying among foreign investors.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 72.63 points or 0.86 percent to close at 8,348.32 on Monday.

But while local investors were locking up gains, foreign investors saw an opportunity to pick up stocks, resulting in a hefty P7.57 billion in net foreign buying for the day.

There was a P7.5-billion block sale on conglomerate Ayala Corp.

Mermac Inc., the holding company of the Zobel family, sold a portion of its stake in Ayala equivalent to 7.06 million shares or 0.86 percent to a foreign institutional investor.

After the transaction—which was executed by BPI Securities and UBS Securities—Mermac will hold 47.75 percent of Ayala’s common shares and 55.56 percent of the voting shares, and will remain Ayala’s largest shareholder.

The PSEi started the day upbeat but early gains were reversed in afternoon trade.

The main index was weighed down mostly by the financial and holding firm counters—which both fell by over 1 percent—while the mining/oil counter also slipped.

The industrial, services and property counters slightly gained.

Value turnover for the day was heavy at P13.29 billion due to the hefty foreign buying. There were 111 decliners that edged out 90 advancers while 37 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down most by Ayala Corp., which fell by 4.95 percent, while SM Investments and Metrobank declined by over 3 percent.

BDO and Metro Pacific both lost over 1 percent.

SM Prime, Semirara, Megaworld, PLDT and Meralco also slipped.

Outside of the PSEi, notable decliners included Chelsea (-3 percent) and Bloomberry (-2.5 percent).

On the other hand, URC, Ayala Land and Jollibee bucked the day’s downturn, respectively rising by 2.19 percent, 1.74 percent and 1.22 percent.

Ayala Land was the day’s most actively traded company.