PSEi falls below 8,000

THE LOCAL stock barometer slipped below the 8,000 mark on Friday as stock valuation jitters were amplified by investors’ disappointment with Japan’s fresh monetary stimulus.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 61.87 points or 0.77 percent to close at 7,963.11, falling for the second straight session. The local market tracked regional peers which were mostly sluggish after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) unveiled a new stimulus program.

BOJ announced on Friday a doubling of its purchases of exchange traded funds but maintained its base money target at $775 billion and kept the status quo for other asset-buying operations. Investors across the region were apparently expecting a more aggressive stimulus program.

For the week, the PSEi shed a total of 62.24 points or 0.8 percent.

On Friday, the PSEi was weighed down most by the property counter which slid by 1.36 percent while the financial, industrial, holding firm and services counters also dipped.

Only the mining/oil counter eked out modest gains.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P11.93 billion. There were 82 advancers which were edged out by 127 decliners while 36 stocks were unchanged.

Investors sold down shares of AC and BPI, which both fell by over 2 percent while SM Prime,ALI and Megaworld all fell by over 1 percent.

PLDT, BDO, Metrobank and Meralco all slipped.

On the other hand, MPI, SMIC and URC all firmed up.

Effective Friday, the stock price of SMIC reflected the 50 percent stock dividend approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Outside the PSEi, investors picked up shares of Security Bank (+2.05 percent), Cebu Air (+3.61 percent) and Cirtek (+0.91 percent) which all gained in heavy volume.