PH share prices close lower on profit-taking

MANILA, Philippines–The stock index retreated on Tuesday as investors pocketed gains after a four-day runup when the 7,000-mark was retested for a moment.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 50.58 points, or 0.72 percent, to close at 6,948.52, tracking profit-taking elsewhere in the region.

“This is a welcome consolidation, although I’m looking for further selling of the index,” said fund manager Gus Cosio of First Metro Asset Management Inc.

The key themes that investors may consider will be gaming, infrastructure and mergers and acquisitions, Cosio said.

All counters ended in the red, but the biggest decliners were the mining/oil and property counters, which both fell by over 1 percent.

Total value turnover amounted to P6.28 billion. There were 64 advancers against 116 decliners, while 45 stocks were unchanged.

The day’s downturn, however, attracted net foreign buying of around P520 million.

The day’s decliners were led by Philex and Jollibee, which fell by over 2 percent while ALI and AC slumped by over 1 percent. On the other hand, those that bucked the day’s downturn were URC, AGI, MPI and Meralco.–Doris C. Dumlao