PSEi loses 0.61%

AFP FILE PHOTO

The local stock barometer retreated Friday, ending a five-day winning streak, tracking an overnight profit-taking in Wall Street that dampened regional sentiment.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 36.33 points or 0.61 percent to close at 5,947.93.

Across the region, trading was sluggish after recently-released minutes

from the US Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting showed that some voting members were increasingly concerned about the potential risks of the Fed’s bond-buying operations, a powerful stimulus program which will continue but has been reduced.

Sentiment was mixed across counters, with holding firms (-1.07 percent) weighing down the index the most alongside weakness in the services and property counters.

The performer for the day was the mining/oil counter (+5.12 percent).

Value turnover for the day amounted to P4.2 billion. Despite the decline of the main index, market breadth was positive, with 80 advancers edging out 61 decliners while 42 stocks were unchanged.

Investors sold down shares of SMIC (-1.33 percent), PLDT (-1.27 percent), SM Prime (-1.33 percent) and Globe (-2.42 percent). Likewise contributing to the day’s decline were AC, AGI, ALI, MPI, BDO, RLC and ICTSI.

The day’s decline was, however, tempered by the gains posted by Bloomberry and EDC, which both rose by more than 2 percent, as well as those of Metrobank, URC, FGEN and BPI. Doris C. Dumlao