Stocks continue slide

Local stocks on Friday slipped for the fourth session in a row, reversing gains during the morning trading session, as investors reduced their open positions in anticipation of further market volatility.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index dropped by 27.65 points or 0.43 percent to close at 6,379.8, bucking the upward trend in most regional markets. The local barometer traded higher earlier in the session, tracking the upturn in Wall Street and most regional markets which were, in turn, influenced by better-than-expected US jobless claims data.

In the afternoon session, however, the PSEi wiped out its gains. This was as US stock futures turned negative while European stocks traded flat ahead of a report on US consumer sentiment and economic confidence in the eurozone.

“Investors are likely squaring their books,” said Joseph Roxas, president of local stock brokerage Eagle Equities Inc. He noted that this had been the trend in the last few weeks—that the index would close lower on Fridays, suggesting a lot of caution among investors over global uncertainties.

For the week, the index lost 98.13 points or 1.5 percent.

The day’s laggers were AEV (-2.89 percent), ICTSI (-2.65 percent) and AGI (-2.15 percent), while BPI, AP, GTCAP and URC were all down by over 1 percent.

AGI, the most actively traded stock, fell on news that gaming unit Travellers was considering a lower initial public offering size of $450 million to $480 million.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P6 billion. Despite the decline among large-cap stocks that weighed down the main index, there were more advancers (84) than decliners (69) in the broader market.

Among the day’s index gainers was LTG (+5.86 percent) which bounced from previous days’ selldown arising from a trademark infringement case filed by Ginebra San Miguel and won at the Court of Appeals level. Semirara, MWC, MPO, JGS, Bloomberry and Jollibee were all up by 1 percent. Doris C. Dumlao