Stocks continue to decline

Philippine stocks closed in the red for a second-straight session as blue chips continued to pull the index lower.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed down 89.91 points, or 1.33 percent, to 6,673.47 in Tuesday’s session while the broader all-shares measure fell 1.17 percent. PSEi is down almost 10 percent since its May 15 record high. Year-to-date, the benchmark measure is still up by 14.8 percent.

All sub-counters closed in the red, led by services, which lost 3.08 percent, followed by financials, which dropped 2.47 percent.

Enrique Razon-led Bloomberry Resorts Corp., which operates the Solaire resort-casino in Manila Bay, was the second-biggest loser for the day after declining 11.21 percent to P10.30 a share. Melco Crown Philippines, which is building its own casino project in partnership with Belle Corp., lost 8.9 percent. The biggest loser was Synergy Grid and Development Phils. Inc.

A total of 1.77 billion shares changed hands Tuesday for P13.25 billion. Decliners led gainers, 123 to 53, while 41 other issues closed unchanged.

Leading the most active list was Henry Sy’s holding firm SM Investments Corp., which declined 2.87 percent. This was followed by supermarket chain Puregold Price Club Inc. (-1.11 percent), mall developer SM Prime Holdings (-3.51 percent), Philippine Long Distance Telephone (-3.28 percent) and BDO Unibank (-4.52 percent).

Cebu Air, which operators Cebu Pacific,  saw a moderate decline of 0.57 percent to P78.55 even as regulator Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said it was reviewing sanctions against the budget carrier. Cebu Pacific owner JG Summit rose 1.13 percent to P44.70. Miguel R. Camus