Stocks down on profit-taking

Local stocks slipped Thursday as investors pocketed recent gains ahead of the long weekend break while weighing a less than dovish US Federal Reserve stance.

Wiping out modest gains early in the session, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index closed 11.83 points or 0.18 percent lower at 6,585.38. This ended a two-day run-up in anticipation that the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting would keep its aggressive monetary stimulus.

But while the stimulus was kept for now, investors are starting to price in the start of the tapering process by early 2014.

For the three-day trading week, the index gained 45.57 points or 0.7 percent.

The day’s biggest PSEi laggers were BPI and AEV, which both declined more than 2 percent, while Ayala Land, Petron, AGI, Jollibee, Philex, Globe and Metrobank lost more than 1 percent.

On the other hand, the day’s biggest index gainer was SMPH (+2.68 percent). Pasay City has rejected Ayala Land’s bid for more time to counter SM Land’s 300-hectare reclamation project. (See story on B3). It was the most actively traded stock for the day.

Other index gainers were URC, Bloomberry, Semirara and DMCI, which gained more than 1 percent while ICTSI, RLC, GTCAP, BDO and JGS contributed to the day’s gains.

Value turnover amounted to P8.28 billion. There were 86 advancers, which edged out 68 decliners, while 37 stocks were unchanged.

Across the region, equities trading was mostly sluggish after an overnight pullback in Wall Street. Doris C. Dumlao