PSE index as of March 25, 2014, 3:46 PM. Screengrab from https://www.pse.com.ph
MANILA, Philippines — The local stock market swung back to negative territory as investors exercised caution in the absence of fresh catalysts and against a backdrop of mostly weaker regional markets.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 64.33 points or 1.01 percent to close at 6,336.34. All counters ended in red territory especially the financial, industrial, holding firm and mining/oil counters, all of which slumped by more than 1 percent.
Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities, said the market was still in a consolidation phase, which was why it was moving up one day and down the next. Toward the end of the week, he said, the market could get a lift from month-end window-dressing activities.
There were only 40 advancers against 117 decliners in the local market while 58 stocks were unchanged.
Turnover stood at P6.73 billion.
Apart from weaker regional markets, investors were cautious ahead of this Thursday’s monetary setting by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which earlier indicated a shift to a tightening bias soon.
Investors sold down shares of BPI (-3.48 percent) and also of URC, AP, SMIC, Globe, ALI, GTCAP and AC which all fell by over 1 percent. PLDT, DMCI, ICTSI, Metrobank, EDC, Semirara and SM Prime also ended lower.
Among the few stocks that bucked the day’s downturn were RWM (+2.18 percent), bouncing after the decline seen after 2013 earnings fell due to lower “win rate” on the high-roller or VIP segment. Megaworld likewise rose by 0.49 percent.
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