PH shares close lower

MANILA, Philippines—The local stock index on Thursday retreated from the year’s peak on profit-taking, but stayed above the 6,800-mark.

The Philippine Stock Exchange gave up 31.11 points, or 0.45 percent, to close at 6,849.33.

The day’s decline was led by the holding firm and mining/oil counters, which slipped by 1 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P13.78 billion.

There were 54 advancers against 125 decliners, while 45 stocks were unchanged.

Despite the main index decline, foreigners were still in a net buying position amounting to around P300 million.

The day’s PSEi decline was led by LTG (-6.02 percent) and GTCAP (-2.82 percent). URC, ALI, SMIC, SMPH, AC, ICTSI and BPI also slipped.

Outside PSEi stocks, Puregold (-3.43 percent) and Emperador (-1.71 percent) also fell.

On the other hand, the stocks that bucked the day’s trend were DMCI and Jollibee, which both advanced by over 1 percent while Megaworld and Metrobank also firmed up.

Among non-PSEi stocks, DoubleDragon remained a market favorite, rising by 23.29 percent.—Doris C. Dumlao