PSEi falls on oil jitters

THE LOCAL stock barometer slipped back to the 6,700 level on Wednesday as sluggish oil prices soured investor sentiment across regional markets.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 50.08 points or 0.73 percent to close at 6,769.26. Across the region, oil jitters resonated anew after an official from Saudi Arabia stated that no production cutback would happen, suggesting that there’s no relief yet in sight on the current oil supply overhang.

At the local market, all counters ended lower but the most battered were the financial and property sub-indices.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.14 billion. There were 71 advancers which were edged out by 103 decliners while 37 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led lower by Petron, which fell by 3 percent on profit-taking while BPI, JG Summit, Megaworld and EDC all slid by over 2 percent.

URC, Metrobank, SM Prime, ALI, BDO and ICTSI all declined by over 1 percent.

AC, Globe and MPI also slipped.

Outside of PSEi stocks, one notable decliner was Puregold which fell by 1.75 percent.

On the other hand, SMIC bucked the day’s downturn, gaining 1.33 percent. PLDT and GTCAP also modestly gained.