Stocks succumb to profit-taking

The local stock barometer ended a six-day winning streak on Wednesday, slipping below the 7,100 mark as the US Federal Reserve headed into a closely watched monetary meeting.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 82.87 points or 1.16 percent to close at 7,065.39 as investors pocketed gains from the recent ascent. Regional markets were mixed as investors await the US Fed’s guidance on interest rate direction after a two-day meeting.

At the local market, the day’s decline was led by the interest rate-sensitive property counter, which tumbled by 2.26 percent.

The industrial, holding firm and mining/oil counters fell by over 1 percent while the services counter also slipped.

Only the financial counter was modestly higher.

Value turnover amounted to P6.8 billion.  There were 121 decliners that outnumbered 73 advancers while 30 stocks were unchanged.

ALI and Megaworld dragged down the main index, respectively falling by 3.55 percent and 4.36 percent.  Conglomerate GTCAP slipped by 2.83 percent.

PLDT, SM Prime, URC, AC, AEV and AGI all declined by over 1 percent.  Petron likewise slipped.

On the other hand, among those that bucked the decline were Bloomberry and Metrobank, which respectively gained 2.72 percent and 1.02 percent.

Globe Telecom, SMIC and AP all advanced. Doris Dumlao-Abadila