Stocks down on profit-taking

Philippine stocks eased Monday as investors locked in gains after the benchmark measure hit a new all-time high during last week’s close.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 0.6 percent, or 44.36 points, to 7,358.36 while the broader all-shares index slid 0.37 percent, or 16.23 points, to 4,320.67.

The PSEi closed at a new peak last Jan. 9 at 7,402.7 after hitting a new intra-day high of 7,446.66 on improving prospects for corporate earnings and a possible windfall from weakening global oil prices since 2014.

The drop Monday was broad-based with all but one subindex ending in the red. Despite the fall in global crude oil, the mining and oil subindex managed to buck the downtrend, gaining 1.99 percent.

Losers, meanwhile, were led by property firms, which fell 1.48 percent, likely due to a placement deal by heavyweight Ayala Land Inc., which sold shares at a discount. The holding companies subindex also lost 0.67 percent.

A total of 111 companies closed in the red yesterday, while 69 ended positive and 44 companies were unchanged. A total of 2.1 billion shares changed hands for P23.69 billion, data from the PSE showed.

Ayala Land also led the list of most actively traded stocks after its P16-billion share placement deal. The builder sank 2.86 percent to P34 on Monday’s close.

This was followed by Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (down 0.56 percent to P88), Universal Robina Corp. (down 1.27 percent to P194), Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (down 0.2 percent to P2,946) and SM Investments Corp. (down 0.12 percent to P850). Miguel R. Camus