Local stocks lose steam

Philippine stocks lost steam and sank anew on Thursday, amid mixed results in the region on after a report in China showed a slowdown in services activity.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed below the 7,000 level as it shed 1.16 percent, or 82.11 points, to 6,999.75. The broader all-shares index also slipped 1.04 percent, or 43.76 points, to 4,162.12.

Trading volume was relatively low, with 3.15 billion shares valued at P5.6 billion changing hands. Data from the PSE showed 121 companies closing in the red, against 58 gainers and 46 companies that closed unchanged.

It was a similar situation for sub-indices which closed lower, led by services, down by 1.65 percent, and holding firms, down 1.57 percent.

Ayala Land Inc. led the list of most actively traded companies as it gained 0.15 percent to P33.80 per share.

This was followed by SM Prime Holdings, down 1.31 percent to P22.60, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., down 3.94 percent to P1,681, SM Investments Corp., down 0.27 percent to P918.50, and Universal Robina Corp., down 0.2 percent to P203.80 per share.

Other actively traded stocks were GT Capital Holdings, unchanged at P1,345, Security Bank Corp., down 2.6 percent to P168.50, BDO Unibank Inc., up 0.3 percent to P100.30, Ayala Corp., down 2 percent to P733 and JG Summit Holdings, down 3.07 percent to P79 per share. Miguel R. Camus