PSEi slips ahead of Shell IPO

THE LOCAL stock barometer slid in thin volume on Monday as investors braced for an upcoming large initial public offering (IPO).

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 43.58 points or 0.57 percent to close at 7,534.71.

Regional markets were hardly moved by the latest US presidential debate. The US presidential election is widely seen as a key source of uncertainty for emerging markets.

At the local market, value turnover was scant at P4.99 billion as investors were seen preparing for the Pilipinas Shell IPO. The price-setting for the Shell IPO will be on Oct. 13

Pilipinas Shell will offer up to 330 million primary and secondary shares to the public for as much as P90 per share.

If the company is able to issue the maximum amount of shares at the maximum price, it will be the biggest stock market debut seen in the history of the PSE. The three largest IPOs so far in this market were completed by the following issuers: retailer Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. (P28.11 billion in 2013), Sy family-led conglomerate SM Investments Corp. (P26.25 billion in 2005) and Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc. (P25.1B in 2016).

All counters ended in the red. There were 60 advancers which were overwhelmed by 103 decliners while 53 stocks were unchanged.

There was P530 million in net foreign selling for the day.

The PSEi was led lower by MPI, which fell by 2.84 percent while GTCAP, URC, Security Bank and LTG all slipped. AC, PLDT, SM Prime, Globe and DMCI also faltered.

On the other hand, ALI, BPI, BDO and Megaworld slightly gained.

Outside of the PSEi, Bloomberry (+7.28 percent) and Philweb (+5.33 percent) gained in heavy volume.