PSEi continues to weaken

The local stock barometer slipped for the second session after hitting the year’s peak but stayed above 6,800 as investors pocketed gains amid a backdrop of sluggish US markets.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) faltered by 31.62 points or 0.46 percent to close at 6,817.71 as the last stream of corporate earnings reports poured in.

“Selloff in the US the past two days caused investment sentiment to sour, pushing investors to capitalize on their gains on Philippine stocks,” said Banco de Oro Unibank chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas.

“With the PSEi still staying above 6,800 levels, expect retest of the 6,900 levels. Failure to stay above 6,800 could call for further losses toward 6,650-6,700 levels,” he said.

The day’s decline was led by the mining/oil and property counters, which both slipped more than 1 percent. Only the financial counter was modestly higher (+0.33 percent).

Value turnover for the day amounted to P10 billion. There were 61 advancers, which were overwhelmed by 125 decliners, while 35 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi’s decline was led by LT Group (-3.09 percent) while ALI, Megaworld, AGI and Meralco fell more than 1 percent. There was also profit-taking on PLDT, URC, SMIC, Ayala Corp. and SM Prime.

Outside of PSEi stocks, there was profit-taking on Puregold (-5.59 percent), Double Dragon (-4.32 percent) and Cosco (-4.74 percent).

On the other hand, JFC (+1.18 percent) was among those that bucked the day’s downturn alongside BDO, MPIC, Metrobank, DMCI and BPI. Doris C. Dumlao