Holiday cheer fails to improve market’s mood as PSEI tests 6,400-level

The country’s stock barometer slipped further, even testing the 6,400-mark in intra-day trade, on sluggish investor appetite ahead of the Christmas break.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 23.5 points or 0.36 percent to close at 6,563.67, tracking sluggish markets across the region.

The index hit a low of 6,499 in intra-day trade.

All counters ended lower for the day. There were 105 decliners that overwhelmed 66 advancers; while 46 stocks were unchanged.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P6.22 billion.

“Indeed it’s a blue Christmas. There are decorations of more red on a green Christmas tree at the trading board,” said Astro del Castillo, managing director at local fund management firm First Grade Finance.

“There are no real incentives for now to reel back investors. Most are already in a holiday break. Thinner volume is evidenced [by the fact] that most market participants are still in a risk-averse mode. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that hopefully we can still end with a bang this year given earnings growth momentum of most listed companies,” he said.

Investors sold down shares of Metro Pacific, which fell by 3.07 percent while PLDT also tumbled by 2.09 percent.

SM Prime, URC, Ayala Corp. and Aboitiz Equity all fell by over 1 percent while Ayala Land Inc., GT Capital and BPI all slipped.

However, Jollibee and Security Bank gained over 2 percent while SM Investments added 1 percent. BDO, JG Summit, DMCI Holdings and Globe Telecom all firmed up.

One notable gainer was Philweb Corp., which surged by 34.94 percent.

After President Duterte’s sweeping statement that online gaming firms will be shut down, Philweb clarified: “PhilWeb is a software provider to Pagcor (Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp.) for its network of

e-games outlets. PhilWeb does not engage in online gaming. PhilWeb’s software cannot be played from homes or offices.”