PH stock prices continue to fall

Photo from pse.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines—The local stock index fell sharply for a fifth straight session on Friday as investors continued to lock up recent gains as prices reached lofty valuations.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 40.11 points or 0.6 percent to close at 6,654.66 on Friday, reversing a strong bounce at opening.  The local stock market, deemed among the most expensive in the region, also bucked the upswing in the region.

Trading across the region was mostly upbeat due to favorable US jobs data.

In recent days, some foreign financial institutions issued sell recommendations on Philippine equities due to valuation concerns.

Turnover amounted to P12.38 billion for the day.  There were nearly twice (102) as many decliners as there were gainers (57) while 51 stocks were unchanged.

Investors pocketed gains from large-cap stocks like PLDT, BDO, ALI, Bloomberry, Metrobank, BPI, Megaworld, ICTSI, JG Summit, AP and DMCI.

On the other hand, the day’s decline was tempered by the gains of URC, SMIC, AC, EDC, Meralco, MPI, SMC and SM Prime.

The mining/oil index was initially up in early trading after the Mining and Geosciences Bureau lifted the moratorium on the granting of new exploration permits.  However, the sub-index fell on profit-taking as well.

Only the industrial and holding firm counters managed to eke out modest gains.

The financial counter (-2.12 percent) was the most battered as most of the large banks succumbed to a correction.