PH stocks continue to weaken

MANILA, Philippines—The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell on Wednesday as investors continued to pocket profits after the index touched 6,900 the previous session.

By Wednesday’s close, the PSEi was down 1.75 percent, or 120.35 points, to 6,762.38.

The broader all-shares index was also down 1.7 percent to 4,040 as all subsectors sank.

Losing indices were led by mining and oil, which fell 2.77 percent. This was followed by property (down 2.11 percent, financials (down 2 percent), and industrial (down 1.87 percent).

Data from the PSE showed a total of 2.05 billion shares changed hands for P9.06 billion.

Losses were broad-based as 148 companies closed in the red versus 44 gainers. There were 32 companies that closed unchanged.

Leading the list of active stocks were Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc., which was down 0.5 percent to P29.90 a share. The other active stocks were Metrobank, BDO, PLDT, Ayala Corp., Ayala Land, URC, SM Investments Corp., LT Group and Megaworld.

Among the gainers were Victorias Milling Corp. and Pancake House Inc.

Leading the day’s decliners were Primex Corp. and Da Vinci Capital Holdings.—Miguel R Camus