THE LOCAL stock barometer slipped below the 7,900 mark on Wednesday as investors factored in the upcoming local index rebalancing while foreign investors pocketed recent gains from the local market.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 69.05 points or 0.87 percent to close at 7,866.13, tracking mostly sluggish regional markets ahead of a much-awaited speech from US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen.
Worst hit for the day among PSEi stocks was gaming stock Bloomberry, which slid by 13.53 percent on news that it would be removed from the main stock barometer by Sept. 12. It will be replaced by Security Bank, which gained 2.44 percent.
Investors also dumped shares of Megaworld and JG Summit, which both fell by over 3 percent while URC slipped by 2.55 percent. The Gokongwei stocks URC and JG Summit were weighed down by a string of concerns that included the impact of URC’s acquisition of Snackbrands, a leading snackfood-maker in Australia.
ALI fell by 1.96 percent while GT Capital, SMIC, BPI and AC also declined.
Outside of the PSEi, Calata fell by 4.51 percent a day after it announced a deal with US firms on a proposed P65-billion integrated resort project in Mactan, Cebu. RRHI was also down by 1.97 percent.
ON the other hand, SM Prime and MPI gained over 1 percent while Metrobank and PLDT also modestly gained.
Aside from Security Bank, notable gainers outside the PSEi included Cirtek (+3.11 percent) and Nickel Asia (+1.12 percent).
Most counters ended in the red. Only the mining/oil counter was modestly higher.
Value turnover for the day amounted to P9.97 billion. Market breadth was negative, with 136 decliners overwhelming 55 advancers while 48 stocks were unchanged.