PSEi still sluggish

LOCAL stocks remained in the doldrums on Tuesday even as regional markets had been perked up by an upswing in oil prices.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 44.87 points or 0.58 percent to close at 7,719.18.

Holding firms and property counters led the day’s decline, both slipping by over 1 percent. The services and mining/oil counters also fell.

On the other hand, the financial and industrial counters modestly gained.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.69 billion.

There were 75 advancers which were outnumbered by 108 decliners while 54 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was dragged down most by JG Summit which lost 2.04 percent while SM Prime, Metrobank, SMIC and GT Capital all slipped by over 1 percent.

ALI, AC, BDO, Megaworld and AEV also slipped.

On the other hand, URC gained 2.21 percent.

PLDT, AGI, Jollibee and BPI were all slightly higher.

Outside of the PSEi, Security Bank was up by 3 percent ahead of its debut into the PSEi next week while Medco was up by 22.55 percent on backdoor-listing rumors.

Elsewhere in the region, most stock markets were higher on the back of former oil prices.