Stocks down on profit-taking

Filipino traders at Philippine Stock Exchange, Makati. AP FILE PHOTO

The local stock index Friday slumped for the first time in four days but stayed above the 7,000-mark amid a slew 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 made in 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.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P9 billion. Market breadth was negative, with 55 advancers against 120 decliners, while 49 stocks were unchanged.

PLDT was unchanged after the MSCI-induced rally on Thursday, but it was still the most actively traded stock for the day.

AGI fell by 3.35 percent after gaming arm Travellers’ first half profit attained only 38 percent of full-year market consensus.

EDC (-2.28 percent), BPI (-2.58 percent) and Megaworld (-1.16 percent) also weighed down the index.

Investors also pocketed gains from BDO, Metrobank, Bloomberry, SMIC, URC.

Outside of index stocks, Puregold (-8.73 percent) and Cosco (-5.52 percent) were heavily battered due to disappointing second quarter results.  Doris C. Dumlao