PSEi slips below 7,200

The local stock barometer fell below the 7,200 mark on Wednesday as investors digested the latest stream of local corporate earnings and a looming US interest rate hike.

Declining for the second straight session, the Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 32.54 points or 0.45 percent to close at 7,174.30.

“In terms of technicals, the index has breached the primary 7,200 support level, and can test the secondary 7,000 support level in the coming months,” local stock brokerage AB Capital Securities said.

Overnight, US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen hinted that the monetary authority would soon raise interest rates anew.

The market was weighed down by the financial, industrial, holding firm, mining/oil and property counters.

Only the services counter ended slightly higher.

Total value turnover for the day amounted to P7.96 billion. There was net foreign selling amounting to P464 million.

There were 108 decliners that edged out 87 advancers while 47 stocks were unchanged.

Investors sold down shares of Metro Pacific and Jollibee which both fell by over 2 percent while PLDT, Metrobank, BPI and Ayala Corp. all slipped by over 1 percent.

SM Prime, SM Investments, Semirara, BDO and Globe also slipped.

Outside of PSEi stocks, one notable decliner was Cemex which tumbled by another 4 percent. The cement-maker’s shares have tumbled sharply since announcing weak fourth quarter results.

D&L declined by 0.93 percent on profit-taking.

On the other hand, ICTSI bucked the day’s downswing, rising by 2.82 percent.

Ayala Land shares rose by 1.12 percent after announcing record-high 2016 profits and revenues.

URC, GTCAP and LTG all firmed up.

One non-PSEi stock that outperformed was construction firm Megawide, which gained 4.14 percent.