PSEi falls for second day

The local stock barometer slipped for the second session in a row on Thursday as investors pocketed recent gains while awaiting referendum results on whether Great Britain will exit or remain in the European Union.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 26.59 points or 0.34 percent to close at 7,729.78, as most counters ended in the red. Elsewhere in the region, stock markets were mostly lower.

“The market was a bit jittery because of the Brexit vote,” said Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities.

Only the mining/oil counter firmed up, recouping 2.37

percent after the freefall in the last two days.

“Liquidity across asset classes seems to have thinned out in the run up to today’s referendum,” Citi said in a research note, anticipating the quiet session in Asia.

Value turnover for the day was thin at P5.96 billion. There were just as much advancers as decliners (100 each) while 47 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down by Ayala Corp. which fell by 2.64 percent while ALI, PLDT and EDC all declined by over 1 percent.

URC and parent firm JG Summit also slipped.

Security Bank, which was recently included in MSCI Philippines index but is not yet part of the PSEi, fell by 0.89 percent.

On the other hand, MPI rebounded by 3.03 percent while Megaworld rose by 2 percent.

Semirara, LTG and SM rose by over 1 percent while Metrobank and ICTSI also contributed gains.

Outside of the PSEi, Philex recouped 6.44 percent after a sharp fall in the last two days.  Doris Dumlao-Abadilla