Stocks lose ground

After a three-day upswing, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) started to lose ground, weighed down by the overnight pullback in US stocks.

The PSEi lost 38.09 points, or 0.53 percent, to close at 7,116.13.

Investors took their cue from the 153.49-pt drop in the Dow Jones Industrial index overnight which, in turn, was weighed down by energy stocks as oil prices tumbled.

The day’s decline was led by the financial counter, which tumbled by 1.75 percent.

The property and holding firm counters likewise slipped.

On the other hand, the industrial, services and mining/oil counters eked out modest gains.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P6.06 billion.

There were 72 advancers against 97 decliners, while 44 stocks were unchanged.

Ayala-affiliated stocks led the day’s decline as President Aquino floated the idea of holding a fresh bid for the Cavite-Laguna Expressway project. AC fell by 2 percent, while ALI tumbled by 0.75 percent.

Banking stocks declined as investors weighed the new regulations issued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to strengthen the industry.

BPI slid by 3.64 percent while Metrobank and BDO also fell by 0.85 percent and 1.99 percent, respectively.

AGI and SM Prime both slumped by over 1 percent, while Megaworld, GTCAP and RLC also contributed to the decline.

Outside of PSEi stocks, VLL and Security Bank respectively fell by 0.82 percent and 1.17 percent. Doris C. Dumlao