Stocks snap 4-day winning streak

Local stocks pulled back slightly on Monday as investors pocketed recent gains and reassessed views on the US Federal Reserve’s tapering of its easy money policy.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gave up 10.27 points or 0.16 percent to close at 6,597.56, ending the four-day run-up seen last week.

Dealers said investors took profits after stocks climbed last week, especially after US lawmakers struck a deal to hike the debt ceiling, thereby avoiding a debt default in the world’s largest economy.

Value turnover amounted to P7.98 billion. There were 70 advancers which were slightly edged out by 77 decliners, while 46 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi stocks which dragged the main index lower the most was Semirara (-3.57 percent) while LTG, Metrobank and Globe faltered by over 2 percent. MWC, AC and MPI also lost more than 1 percent while AEV, PLDT and ICTSI likewise contributed to the day’s index decline.

On the other hand, the PSEi’s pullback was tempered by the gains of GTCAP and EDC, which both rose by over 3 percent. Other big gainers were URC, SMC, Megaworld, Petron, AGI, Jollibee, ALI and JG Summit. Doris C. Dumlao