PSEi falls as Fed cheer wanes

THE LOCAL stock barometer slipped below the 6,900 mark on Friday following the short-lived euphoria over the start of the US Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening cycle.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 38.63 points or 0.56 percent to close at 6,867.07, tracking the overnight slump in Wall Street.

“The cheer didn’t last long. As the effect of the Fed’s confidence fairy wore off, investors began to focus once again on evidence of slowing growth momentum and headwinds from falling commodity prices and the stronger dollar (itself encouraged by the widening of interest rate differentials). US equity markets returned more than all of their post-FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) gains, and ended the overnight session on a particularly weak note,” Citigroup said in a research note on Friday.

At the end of its policy meeting on Dec. 17, the FOMC raised the targeted interest rate by a quarter-percentage point, in line with market expectations and an affirmation of its confidence on the US economic recovery.

At the local market, despite the decline on Friday, the PSEi gained 132.06 points or nearly 2-percent for the week due to the sharp gains in the last two days.

Friday’s decline was led by the mining/oil counter which slipped by 2.36 percent while the financial and property counters both declined by over 1 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P6.55 billion. There were 121 decliners that overwhelmed 55 advancers while 37 stocks were unchanged.

The decline was led by SM Prime which slumped by 3.11 percent while ALI, BDO, AC and BPI all fell by over 1 percent.

PLDT, SMIC, AEV and EDC also declined.

On the other hand, among those that bucked the day’s downturn were URC and parent firm JG Summit which respectively rose by 2.17 percent and 1.19 percent. Globe also rose by 1.07 percent.

GTCAP and RLC also contributed to the PSEi’s gain.

Outside of the PSEi, Union Bank rose by 0.26 percent to close at P56.95 per share in heavy volume as parent firm AEV picked up more shares of this banking unit from the market. AEV disclosed that it had bought 5.72 million common shares at P56 each.