Local stocks ease on oil, US rate hike jitters

The local stock barometer slipped for the sixth session in a row Thursday as oil and US interest rate jitters affected risk appetite across the region.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi)  lost 49.27 points or 0.66 percent to close at 7,445.14.

As the third-quarter corporate earnings season has begun, investors are likewise awaiting fresh catalysts from the numbers to be reported by many listed companies.

The main index was weighed down most by the industrial counter, which fell by 1.26 percent. The holding firms, services and property counters also declined.

On the other hand, the financial and mining/oil counters slightly firmed up.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P6.5 billion. There were 75 advancers, which were edged out by 102 decliners, while 41 stocks were unchanged.

Foreign investors remained net sellers to the tune of P567 million.

The PSEi was weighed down most by DMCI, which fell by 3.61 percent while GT Capital, Metrobank and URC all fell by more than 2 percent.

SM Prime, PLDT, JG Summit, Globe, Megaworld and Jollibee also slipped by more than 1 percent. SM Investments Corp., Ayala Corp., BPI and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. also declined.

Outside of the PSEi, the notable decliners included Alterra, which fell by 3.09 percent. This will be the backdoor-listing vehicle for biotech firm Philab.

Among those that bucked the downturn were Security Bank (+3.74 percent) and Petron (+2.94 percent).

Aboitiz Equity Ventures and BDO Unibank also firmed up. The first among the big conglomerates to report its financial results, AEV grew its nine-month net profit by 44 percent year-on-year to P17.1 billion, buoyed by higher earnings from its power and banking businesses.