PSEi falls to 7,100 on US jitters

THE LOCAL stock barometer fell into the 7,100 level on Friday as the market digested third quarter local earnings results alongside prospects of US interest rate hike this year.

Slipping for the third straight session, the Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 54.99 points or 0.77 percent to close at 7,134.26.

For the week, the PSEi declined by a total of 102.12 points or 1.41 percent.

Across the region, stock markets were mostly lower on news that the US economy had grown at a slower pace of 1.5 percent year-on-year in the third quarter from 3.9 percent in the second quarter. Meanwhile, the market is still digesting clues from the US Federal Reserve that it may hike targeted interest rate by yearend.

At the local market, the holding firm, services and mining/oil counters led the day’s decline.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.11 billion. There were 101 decliners which overwhelmed 62 decliners while 49 stocks were unchanged.

AEV fell by 3.45 percent. The conglomerate recently reported a nine-month net profit of P11.9 billion, 19 percent lower year-on-year due to the decline in earnings from its power and banking businesses.

PLDT, GTCAP, MPIC, JG Summit and Megaworld all tumbled by over 2 percent.

Globe slipped by over 1 percent while SM Prime, BDO, Jollibee, Metrobank and BPI also faltered.

Outside of PSEi stocks, DNL fell by 2.5 percent.

On the other hand, RLC gained by 1.16 percent while URC, ALI, SM and Meralco also firmed up. RLC recently entered the property market in mainland China.

Non-PSEi stock Cebu Air gained by 3.24 percent on strong earnings prospects amid the slump in fuel prices.