PSEi weighed down by telcos

THE LOCAL stock barometer swung from positive to negative territory on Monday, weighed down by selling on telecom stocks.

Giving up early gains, the Philippine Stock Exchange index ended 6.38 points or 0.09 percent lower to close at 6,892.69.

Elsewhere in the region, stock markets were initially buoyed by the rise in oil prices and upbeat US jobs data for February. However, sentiment turned mixed as some investors became skeptical of the recent run-up in equities.

At the local market, the index was weighed down by the services counter, which fell by 1.4 percent in turn due to the selling on index heavyweight PLDT. The telecom giant was down by another 3.73 percent as investors mulled earnings prospects for the years ahead. It was the day’s most actively traded stock.

Globe Telecom likewise fell by 1.72 percent as investors priced in stiffer competition in this business.

Conglomerates GT Capital (-1.93 percent), SMIC (0.93 percent) and JG Summit (-0.69 percent) also declined. These dragged down the holding firm counter which slipped by 0.52 percent.

On the other hand, the financial, industrial, mining/oil and property counters all firmed up.

Total value turnover for the day amounted to P7 billion.

Despite the slight PSEi decline, market breadth was positive. There were were 114 advancers that outnumbered 69 decliners while 39 stocks were unchanged.

BDO, URC, MPIC and AGI gained over 1 percent while SM Prime, ALI, EDC, BPI and Megaworld eked out modest gains.

As investors looked at alternative trading plays, a number of non-PSEi stocks also gained in heavy volume. Among the notable gainers were Da Vinci Capital (DAVIN) and Global Ferronickel (FNI) which respectively rose by 18.1 percent and 11.27 percent.

DoubleDragon rose by 8.14 percent while RRHI gained by 3.6 percent.