Stocks down on profit-taking

After a four-day run-up, the local stock barometer took a breather Wednesday as investors reassessed recent gains.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gave up 15.43 points or 0.23 percent to close at 6,769.52.

Dealers said the decline was due to a technical correction after the 195-point surge in the last four days. However, they said interest remained strong among foreign investors, resulting in a net foreign buying since mid-February.

Some pointed to the P3.16-billion initial public offering (IPO) of Century Pacific that started Wednesday as sucking up stock market liquidity.

By counter, the financial, industrial, services and property counters ended lower while holding firms and mining/oil posted modest gains.

Value turnover amounted to P7.12 billion. There were 98 advancers that beat 86 decliners while 36 stocks were unchanged.

Petron (-2.03 percent) and Metrobank (-1.22 percent) led the PSEi’s decline while PLDT, Ayala Land, LT Group, Megaworld, SM Investments, Metro Pacific Investments, JG Summit and BDO also contributed to the slump.  Doris C. Dumlao