Local stock index slips

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock index declined slightly on Tuesday after an overnight Wall Street slump ahead of the corporate earnings season.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gave up 5.11 points or 0.09 percent to close at 5,935.56. The index is still facing a tough resistance near the psychological barrier at 6,000.

Trading was mixed across counters, with the financial, industrial and services counters weighing down the market. The mining/oil counter (+2.04 percent) bucked the day’s downturn.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Index tumbled by 179.11 points to 16,257.94.

At the local market, turnover was heavier at P7.195 billion. There were 73 advancers against 92 decliners while 32 stocks were unchanged.

Investors sold down blue chips BPI, BDO, PLDT, SMIC, AC, SM Prime, ICTSI and AP.

Gains by LTG, ALI, DMCI, Metrobank, Megaworld and Globe tempered the PSEi’s decline.

Outside of the PSEi, an outperformer was Trans-Asia. The company recently disclosed that it was  in the preliminary development stages for a 415-megawatt liquefied natural gas plant project.

In a research note, Metrobank said the market may trade sideways with a potential bounce, given the miss in US job numbers last Friday which could potentially delay further quantitative easing reductions.