Local stock index slips anew

Philippine Stock Exchange AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock index again slipped below 6,800 on Tuesday as investors pocketed gains after the recent run-up in stock prices.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 24.75 points or 0.36 percent to close at 6,777.98.

All counters were down.

Turnover amounted to P7.99 billion.

There were 105 decliners against  67 advancers while 42 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led lower by AGI, SMIC, LTG and Petron which all fell by over 1 percent. PLDT, ALI, EDC, Megaworld, BPI and DMCI also contributed to the day’s decline.

Outside of PSEi stocks, the notable decliners were CIC, Belle and Sinophil which all slumped by over 4 percent.

On the other hand, GTCAP (+1.78 percent) bucked the downtrend alonside URC, BDO and Metrobank.

Dealers said the market was taking a breather after the recent run-up. On Tuesday, the Philippines reported a meager growth in April exports but dealers said the market did not give much weight on it.

It was reported on Tuesday that Philippine export receipts grew by a modest 0.8 percent in April, underperforming the market estimate of 10 percent.

On the other hand, many investors decided to cash in after the recent run-up.

The government also reported on Tuesday that the country’s jobless ratio in April had gone down to 7 percent from 7.5 percent in the previous survey three months ago.

On the other hand, regional markets were mostly higher on Tuesday on the back of improved global growth prospects and buoyant stocks in Wall Street.

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