PSEi falls below 6,800
MANILA, Philippines-The local stock barometer slipped below 6,800 on Wendesday as investors pocketed gains after a two-day rebound.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 34.27 points or 0.5 percent to close at 6,766.57.
The decline was led by the property counter (-2.2 percent) as well as the holding firms (-0.46 percent) sub-index while other counters firmed up.
The main index opened strongly but lost steam before mid-day. Value turnover amounted to P6.6 billion. Despite the decline in the main index, investors scouted for bargains from the broader market. As such, there were 99 advancers that edged out 74 decliners while 47 stocks were unchanged.
Ayala Land (-3.62 percent) led the PSEi lower alongside SM Investments (-1.4 percent), Globe Telecom (-1.63 percent), Ayala Corp. (-0.16 percent) and Alliance Global Group (-0.82 percent).
On the other hand, Energy Development Corp. (+2.17 percent) was among the index gainers alongside BDO (+1.23 percent) and First Gen Corp. (+1.91 percent).
Other notable gainers outside the PSEi were HOUSE (+7.81 percent) and Nickel Asia (+2.7 percent).
Dealers said the recent rally indicated that the market had now digested the news of a slower-than-expected first quarter Philippine gross domestic product growth rate. But amid the strong market rebound, market performance over the past days had exhibited strong volatility, local stockbrokerage DA Market Securities said. “Taking this into consideration, we recommend investors to stay alert when the market approaches resistance levels.”
DA Market said the selling mood might continue to linger as the market neared the near-term resistance levels at 6,800, 6,830 and 6,900. On the other hand, it said there was an established support at 6,650.–Doris C. Dumlao
