PSEi slips on profit-taking

THE LOCAL stock barometer slipped for the third session in a row on Monday, bucking the upswing across most regional markets as investors locked up gains after last week’s China state visit-inspired rally.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 40.91 points or 0.53 percent to close at 7,609.31.

Manny Cruz, chief strategist at Asiasec Equities, said in an interview that the market had been weighed down by some modest foreign selling amounting to P107 million alongside profit-taking from last week’s two-day rally.

“The two-day rally last week was inspired by the Beijing trip so when Pres. Duterte came back to the Philippines, investors cashed in their gains,” Cruz said.

During the historic state visit to China, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte repaired bilateral ties with China and came home with around $24 billion in investment and financing pledges, including those initiated by the private sector.

“Now, the market is consolidating in the absence of fresh development. Investors are awaiting third quarter earnings,” he said.

Asked whether Mr. Duterte’s comment on “separation” from the US had gnawed on investor sentiment, Cruz said the market was now getting used to such kind of rhetoric from the president. “I think investors are looking for story lines for the longer term,” he said.

The holding firm counter was the most battered sub-index for the day, declining by 1 percent while the financial, services and mining/oil counters also slipped. On the other hand, the industrial and property counters firmed up.

Total value turnover for the day was small at P4.7 billion. There were only 75 advancers which were edged out by 94 decliners while 57 stocks were unchanged.

GTCAP fell by over 3 percent while Metrobank was also down by over 2 percent. SMIC, JG Summit, PLDT, Globe and Security Bank all slipped by over 1 percent.

ALI, AC, URC and BPI also slipped. Outside of the PSEi, one notable decliner was Cemex, which lost 1.72 percent.

On the other hand, SM Prime and Jollibee gained over 1 percent while MPI and Megaworld also gained.

DoubleDragon gained 4 percent following its announcement to double the hotel capacity of its Chinese hospitality chain JinJiang Inn. The chain is seen to benefit from the rekindling of Philippine-China ties. Construction and infrastructure firm Megawide also gained 1 percent while RFM rose by 2.14 percent, tracking the sale of 15.42 million treasury shares at P4.30 per share.