Stocks defy regional upswing

The local stock market missed a regional upswing Friday as profit-taking battered large-cap stocks while Consunji-led firms were weighed down by coal mining jitters.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 25.49 points or 0.32 percent to close at 7,955.86.

The mining/oil index fell by 4.18 percent for the day as the new Environment chief, Gina Lopez, spoke about alleged environmental violations of several mining firms, including those of Consunji-led Semirara and the Tampakan mining project of Saguittarius Mines.

Semirara slid by 7.52 percent while parent conglomerate DMCI fell by 4 percent.

Only the services counter bucked the downturn, rising by 2.38 percent. It was lifted by ICTSI’s 10.23-percent rally after the port terminal operator released its first-semester results.

SM Prime fell by 2 percent while URC, MPI, GTCAP,

Metrobank, SMIC all slipped by more than 1 percent. JG Summit and Megaworld both eased.

Outside of the PSEi, investors sold down Security Bank and Puregold, which fell by 5.45 percent and 2.43 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, Bloomberry gained 3.86 percent and PLDT rose by 2.51 percent while Globe, AC, ALI also firmed up. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla