Shares dip on storm alert

Philippine stocks yesterday slipped below the 7,300 mark as investors, spooked by an approaching typhoon, decided to pocket gains.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 60.9 points, or 0.83 percent, to close at 7,299.85.

“Investors are profit-taking. They are playing safe ahead of the typhoon’s possible landfall,” said Astro Del Castillo, managing director at fund management firm First Grade Finance.

The holding firm and services counters were the most battered during the day, as both declined by over 1 percent. The financial and industrial counters also slipped.

On the other hand, the mining/oil and property counters slightly firmed up.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.1 billion. There were 67 advancers against 110 decliners while 46 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi’s decline was led by Bloomberry, which fell by 6.67 percent on heavy foreign selling.

BDO, the day’s most actively traded company, fell by 2.83 percent, while AGI also fell by 2.35 percent. PLDT slumped by 1.47 percent. LTG, EDC, GTCAP and DMCI also slipped.

Outside of the PSEi, there had been some profit-taking on newly listed Xurpas (-6.31 percent). PLC also fell by 2.86 percent.

ALI gained by 1.14 percent while Metrobank, SMIC, SM Prime, JG Summit, URC and Megaworld also firmed up.

With Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) still fresh in people’s minds a year after it struck, the market mostly decided to hunker down and brace itself for Typhoon “Ruby” (international name: Hagupit). Doris C. Dumlao