Index down 1.17%

The local stock barometer Thursday ended a three-day run-up, 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.

JG Summit fell by 9.65 percent to close at P82.40 after the conglomerate’s founder, John Gokongwei Jr., sold the 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 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.

“Despite that, we think it serves as an opportunity to position in selected counters as overall position remains upbeat,” Cruz said.

The holding firm counter fell by 2.17 percent. The financial, industrial, services and property counters also declined.  Only the mining counter (+0.36 percent) was up for the day.

There were 109 decliners that overwhelmed 65 gainers 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 more than 1 percent.

URC, ALI, AC, AP and LTG also  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. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla