PSEi bucks regional upswing

THE LOCAL stock barometer slipped but stayed afloat the 7,200 mark on Wednesday, bucking the upswing in regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 9.71 points or 0.14 percent to close at 7,201.02 as investors navigated the third quarter local corporate earnings reporting season with mixed sentiment.

Joseph Roxas, president of local stock brokerage Eagle Equities Inc., said the the decline was due to a technical correction as local markets had risen ahead of regional peers recently.

On the ongoing local initial public offerings (IPOs), Roxas said these were too small to siphon off liquidity from the local market these days.

The index was weighed down most by services, which slumped by 2.25 percent while the financial, industrial and mining/oil counters likewise dipped.

On the other hand, the holding firm and property counters firmed up.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.42 billion.

There were 79 advancers which were edged out by 99 decliners while 34 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led lower by ICTSI and Globe which both slumped by over 3.8 percent. PLDT likewise fell by 2.42 percent. BPI, MPI and RLC also declined.

Outside of PSEi stocks, FNI tumbled by 6.52 percent.

On the other hand, SMPH rose by 2.75 percent while AC and Megaworld both advanced by over 1 percent. URC, ALI, GTCAP, JG Summit and SMIC all firmed up.

Among the notable gainers outside of the PSEi are LPZ (+3.45 percent) and A.Brown (+6.06 percent).