PSEi trades with caution

THE LOCAL stock barometer traded with caution on Monday, weighed down by the pullback in oil prices alongside jitters ahead of the upcoming presidential elections.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 5.26 points or 0.07 percent to close at 7,250.13 as investors awaited fresh catalysts before taking any bigger position in the market.

“In the absence of any market stir and developments, it’s just trading sideways,” said Manny Cruz, chief strategist at brokerage house AsiaSec Equities. “The market is consolidating at current range.”

“I think most investors are waiting for first quarter corporate earnings,” he said.

Cruz sees the PSEi finding support at the 7,190 level.

Asked whether the market was affected by the nearing presidential elections, Cruz said: If you look at the current rating, there’s some sense of conviction that there’s already a front-runner, so it’s just a matter of time before the market can factor in that kind of event.”

The current front-runner in the presidential race is Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte, followed by Sen. Grace Poe.

As to other external factors weighing down sentiment, Cruz said: “We’re just tracking the daily prices of oil movements (and the) same (is true) with the regional markets.”

At the local market, the day’s decline was led by the interest rate-sensitive property counter which fell by 1.09 percent. The financial and holding firm counters also dipped.

On the other hand, the industrial and services counters gained slightly.

Total value turnover for the day amounted to P6.04 billion. There were 112 decliners which outnumbered 86 advancers while 45 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was led lower by BDO and AGI which both slumped by over 2 percent while ALI, RLC and Metrobank all slipped by over 1 percent. SM Prime, MPIC and AC also declined.

Outside of the PSEi, notable decliners included consumer technology provider Xurpas (-5.66 percent) and retailer RRHI (-2.88 percent).

On the other hand, URC and Meralco both gained over 1 percent while SMIC and PLDT also firmed up.

The notable gainers outside of the PSEi basket included Araneta Properties (+30.6 percent) and ISM Communications (+28 percent) which surged in relatively heavy volume.