PSEi loses 0.27%, closes below 7,000

The local stock barometer slipped below the 7,000 mark in thin trade Monday as local financial markets reopened after the long Christmas break and entered the last trading week of 2015.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 18.81 points or 0.27 percent to close at 6,983.61, tracking lackluster regional markets.

The PSEi’s decline was led by the property counter, which fell by 1.79 percent while holding firms dipped by 0.1 percent.

The financial, industrial, services and mining/oil counters firmed up. Value turnover was thin at P3.08 billion as several investors went on a long Christmas holiday break.

Despite the PSEi’s decline, market breadth was positive. There were 91 advancers, beating 63 decliners, while 45 stocks were unchanged.

Many shunned large caps due to their rich valuations and picked up second-liner stocks.

Ayala Land slumped by 3.22 percent while URC, SM Prime and Ayala Corp. all fell by more than 1 percent.

Banco de Oro, AEV and Metro Pacific all slipped.

Among PSEi stocks, the top gainer was Metrobank, which posted an increase of 2.77 percent while Globe, GTCAP and Petron all rose by over 1 percent.

Jollibee, ICTSI and AGI also contributed to the day’s gains.

Outside of PSEi stocks, RCBC gained 1.25 percent in heavy trade while PLC and Cosco respectively surged by 6.67 percent and 4.7 percent.

With only one day to go before the end of 2015 trading, the PSEi is still 1.63 percent behind the closing level in 2014. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla