PSEi slips from record high

THE LOCAL stock barometer slipped from record highs on Thursday but managed to stay afloat the 7,800 mark despite a bout of profit-taking.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 28.79 points or 0.37 percent to close at 7,819.04. Jitters over arbitration on water tariffs also tempered risk-taking, dragging down MPIC by 4.91 percent.

One notable decliner for the day was Manila Water, which tumbled by 10.67 percent. Dealers said it looked like the arbitration panel that heard the petition against water regulators may not come up with a favorable ruling.

“Maybe they lost in the arbitration,” one stock dealer said.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P9 billion.   Despite the decline of the PSEi, there were slightly more advancers (95) than decliners (90) in the market. 

The day’s decline was led by the industrial counter, which fell by 1.07 percent while the financial, holding firm and property counters also declined.

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

Maynilad Water Services, an operating unit of MPIC, earlier obtained a favorable ruling but the government has deferred acting on its petition on water tariff hike to await the outcome of this separate arbitration case involving MWC.

There was likewise profit-taking on URC and Metrobank while ALI, Meralco and JG Summit also lost over 1 percent.

Shares of BPI, AC and GTCAP also declined.

On the other hand, Megaworld bucked the downturn, gaining by 2.75 percent while SMIC and LTG also advanced by over 1 percent.

PLDT also firmed up by 0.19 percent while BDO also posted a modest gain.

Outside of PSEi stocks, D&L was a notable gainer. Its shares were up by 4.07 percent as the company debuted on small cap index of the FTSE.

Still as part of the FTSE review, Megaworld and Semirara were added to the All-World index.