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MANILA, Philippines—The local stock index slumped for the first time in four days but stayed above the 7,000 mark on Friday amid a lot of profit-taking.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 52.49 points or 0.74 percent to close at 7,008.51. Week-on-week, the index still advanced by 128.17 points or 1.86 percent due to the cumulative gains of the last four days.
All counters were in the red as the recent run-up to a 14-month high drove many investors to trim and reassess their portfolios, dealers said. On Thursday, the index finished past the 7,000 mark for the first time this year as some large-cap stocks like PLDT and Ayala Land Inc. benefited from increased weights in the closely tracked MSCI indices.
Turnover for the day amounted to P9 billion. Market breadth was negative, with 55 advancers overwhelmed by 120 decliners while 49 stocks were unchanged.