Main stock price barometer continues to weaken

The local stock barometer pulled back to the 7,500 level Friday as regional markets traded with caution ahead of the release of the US jobs data.

Declining for the third straight session, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 41.87 points or 0.55 percent to close at 7,578.29. For the week, the index shed a total of 78.84 points or 1 percent.

Elsewhere in the region, stock markets were mostly lower ahead of the release of the US payrolls data that, in turn, could influence the timing of the next US interest rate increase.

At the local market, the decline was led by the services counter, which fell by 1.51 percent. The financial, industrial, mining/oil and property counters also slipped.

The holding firm counter slightly gained.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.02 billion. There were 103 decliners that edged out 72 advancers, while 57 stocks were unchanged.

The market was weighed down by around P246 million in net foreign selling.

The PSEi was led lower by Globe Telecom, which fell by 4.16 percent, while Megaworld slid by 3.64 percent.

Jollibee lost 2.07 percent while Ayala Land, PLDT and BPI all slipped by more than 1 percent.

Ayala Corp., BDO Unibank, URC, LT Group and JG Summit also slipped.

Outside of the PSEi, one notable decliner was Philweb, which dropped by 3.88 percent. The buyer of businessman Roberto Ongpin’s majority stake in Philweb is seeking an exemption from the tender offer rule ahead of the consummation of the buyout deal.

Meanwhile, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and SM Prime bucked the day’s downturn, both rising by more than 1 percent. GT Capital, SM Investments Corp. and Petron also firmed up.

At Friday’s close, the main index also traded at a trailing price to earnings ratio of 21x, which means investors paid 21 times the kind of money they made last year.

The combined market capitalization of index stocks amounted to around P9 trillion.

The PSEi is now nearing key support levels of 7,530 and 7,500.  Failure to hold these levels is seen leading to deeper declines for the index.

Since the start of the year, the PSEi has advanced by 10.84 percent.  However, the PSEi had seen 22 straight days of net foreign selling from Aug.23 to Sept. 23.