PSEi falls below 6,800

The local stock barometer again slipped below 6,800 Tuesday as investors pocketed gains after the recent run-up in stock prices.

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

All counters were down. Value turnover amounted to P7.99 billion.

There were 105 decliners that edged out 67 advancers while 42 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led lower by AGI, SMIC, LT Group and Petron, which all fell more than 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 more than 4 percent.

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

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

The government also reported yesterday that the country’s jobless rate in April had gone down to 7 percent from 7.6 percent a year ago.

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