PSEi dips below 7,000

The local stock barometer slipped below the 7,000 mark in thin trade Monday as uncertainties on US interest rates and the Chinese economy curbed risk-taking.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell by 124.96 points or 1.77 percent to close at 6,926.82, tracking mostly sluggish markets across the region.

This weak sentiment did not come as a surprise following the sharp decline in Wall Street on Friday as the mixed bag of US jobs data only heightened uncertainties on whether the US

Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this month. On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial index fell by 1.66 percent.

At the same time, China’s stock market reopened after a long weekend break only to decline by another 2.52 percent. China’s financial markets were closed on Thursday and Friday due to local holidays.

At the local stock market, the day’s decline was led by the holding firm counter, which slumped 2 percent, while all other counters lost more than 1 percent.

Value turnover was thin at P4.06 billion as foreign investors continued to be net sellers at the local bourse. There was net foreign selling of P220 million at the market. There were 3.6 times as much decliners (131) than advancers (36) while 42 stocks were unchanged.

Investors dumped shares of JG Summit and Bloomberry, which both fell more than 4 percent while, AC and ALI also faltered by more than 3 percent. Outside of PSEi stocks, RRHI (-2.15 percent), Puregold (-1.23 percent) and DNL (-0.18 percent) declined in relatively heavy trade.

Local stockbrokerage DA Market said that while the index had hit a short-term bottom close to the 6,600 level, further volatility could be expected until the index has established a new firm support. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla