PSEi slips for 3rd session

PSE index as of February 25, 2014, 3:46 PM. Screengrab from https://www.pse.com.ph

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock index softened for the third straight session on Tuesday as investors continued to pocket gains after last week’s strong run-up.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index slipped by 0.77 points or 0.01 percent to close at 6,295.55 in mixed trading.

In the past two days, the PSEi managed to rise in morning trade only to see its gains eroded in the afternoon session as investors reassess recent gains.

The main index was weighed down by the holding firm, services and property counters.  On the other hand, the financial, industrial and mining/oil counters managed to post modest gains.

Turnover amounted to P8.52 billion.  There were 64 advancers which were outnumbered by 92 decliners while 51 stocks were unchanged.

The large-cap stocks that weighed down the index were SM Prime (-3.09 percent) and DMCI (-2.19 percent) while ALI and SMIC both dropped by over 1 percent.  Jollibee also fell by 0.75 percent.

Outside of PSEi stocks, there was also profit-taking on Puregold (-0.89 percent) and Emperador (-2.01 percent).

The day’s decline was tempered by the gains of Megaworld (+3.48 percent), the day’s most actively traded stock.  The index was also buoyed by JGS (+2.5 percent) alongside URC, BDO and GTCAP which all gained by over 1 percent.

Meralco, which is rejoining the PSEi next month, was up by another 1.42 percent.

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