PSEi falls on prospects of US Fed hike

THE LOCAL stock barometer ended a six-day winning streak on Thursday, slipping below the 7,600 mark, as prospects of a US Federal Reserve rate hike by September weighed down stock markets across the region.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 72.6 points or 0.95 percent to close at 7,589.95. Elsewhere in the region, stock markets were mostly bludgeoned. Expectations of a US Fed rate hike by September were triggered by strong U.S. data and hawkish comments from a US Fed official.

At the local market, all counters ended in the red, led by the financial, industrial, services and mining/counters which all slumped by over 1 percent.

Total value turnover amounted to P7.43 billion. There were 58 advancers which were overwhelmed by 102 decliners while 50 stocks were unchanged.

BPI was among the notable PSEi decliners, losing 3.13 percent ahead of the release of its second quarter earnings report. URC, PLDT, EDC and Jollibee all slumped by over 2 percent while Meralco fell by 1.56 percent.

SMPH, Globe, Metrobank, AGI, MPI and SMIC also contributed to the day’s decline.

On the other hand, ALI, GTCAP and JG Summit bucked the downturn, all posting modest gains.

Outside of the PSEi, cement-maker LaFarge Republic (LRI) was among the notable advancers after the consortium of CRH plc and Aboitiz groups announced a tender offer to minority shareholders. CRH-Aboitiz recently bagged a deal to buy 88.85 percent of LRI at P10.26 per share, subject to closing conditions. The deal valued 100 percent of LRI at P59.7 billion.

DNL, which has been rising in heavy volume in the last few days, also firmed up.