THE LOCAL stock barometer ended a three-day run-up on Thursday, weighed down by a $250-million JG Summit share-sale and fresh valuation jitters.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 87.57 points or 1.17 percent to close at 7,376.38, bucking the regional upswing.
The local market was led lower by JG Summit, which fell by 9.65 percent to close at P82.40 after the conglomerate’s founder John Gokongwei Jr. sold bulk of his remaining personal shares to institutional investors.
“Right now, the market was dragged by the JG Summit placement, being an index-linked stock. It also served as catalyst for market investors to cash in,” said Manny Cruz, chief strategist at stock brokerage Asiasec Equities.
JG Summit, the day’s most actively traded company, has a 6.88 percent weight on the PSEi basket.
Value turnover at the local stock market swelled to P18.63 billion because of the JG Summit deal.
Gokongwei sold on Thursday 142.5 million of his JG Summit shares at P82.10 for a total sum of P11.7 billion. (Please see related story)
“Despite that, we think it serves as an opportunity to position in selected counters as overall position remains upbeat,” Cruz said.
With JG Summit’s decline, the holding firm counter fell by 2.17 percent while the financial, industrial, services and property counters all declined. Only the mining counter (+0.36 percent) was up for the day.
There were 109 decliners that overwhelmed 65 advancers at the market while 56 stocks were unchanged.
MPI also declined by 2.59 percent while Globe, SMIC, SM Prime, Metrobank and Jollibee all tumbled by over 1 percent.
URC, ALI, AC, AP and LTG all slipped.
On the other hand, AGI gained 1.63 percent while AEV and PLDT also firmed up.
Across the region, stock markets were mostly higher alongside an increase in global oil prices. Brent crude breached the $50 per barrel mark for the first time in six months.