PSEi slips below 6,500

pse.com.ph photo

MANILA, Philippines—The local stock index slipped below 6,500 on Friday, missing the upswing in most markets elsewhere in the region, as investors locked in recent gains.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 34.99 points or 0.54 percent to close at 6,481.83. But for the week, the index was still ahead by 56.84 points or 0.88 percent due to the run-up in the previous two days.

Domestic investors were mostly responsible for the day’s profit-taking as foreign investors were still in a net buying position amounting to P1.38 billion, based on PSE’s data.

Across the region, markets were mostly higher on Friday as investors took heart from reports that fewer than expected Americans had filed for jobless claims last week. This boosted risk-taking ahead of an upcoming US February jobs report that was due later on Friday.

Local stock brokerage Regina Capital noted that the PSEi was down on profit-taking ahead of the jobs report from the US.

All counters ended in the red. But despite the main index decline, there were more slightly more advancers (79) than decliners (77) in the broader market while 45 stocks were unchanged.

Turnover amounted to P8.18 billion.

Investors took profits from Metrobank and JGS, which both fell by over 1 percent, as well as from SM Prime and AP which both slumped by over 1 percent. PLDT, BPI, BDO, AGI, Megaworld, SMIC, ALI, AC, RLC and ICTSI likewise ended lower.

On the other hand, the PSEi’s decline was tempered by the gains posted by LTG (+3.29 percent) as well as URC, Semirara and DMCI which all advanced by over 1 percent. Jollibee likewise closed modestly higher.

Outside of the main index, a notable gainer was DNL which rose by 3.1 percent.