Humdrum activities put market to sleep; PSEi down 0.29 percent

The country’s stock barometer returned to the doldrums on Friday in the absence of fresh incentives for the market to load up on local equities.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 20.87 points or 0.29 percent to close at 7,311.72. Regional markets were mixed.

For the week, the PSEi firmed up by a modest 42.1 points or 0.58 percent from last week’s finish of 7,269.62. Dealers said the market was still consolidating within a tight range.

On Friday, the PSEi was led lower by the property counter, which fell by 1.07 percent while the financial, industrial, holding firm and mining/oil counters also slipped.

Only the services counter firmed up, gaining 1.32 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P9.17 billion. Market breadth was negative, with 102 decliners edging out 86 advancers while 42 companies were unchanged.

ALI and GT Capital both fell by over 2 percent while JG Summit and DMCI slipped by over 1 percent.

BDO, MPIC and SM Prime also declined.

One notable decliner outside the PSEi was Cemex, which slipped by 5.26 percent.

On the other hand, newly listed Wilcon Depot gained 5.54 percent on its first day of trading and was the most actively traded company for the day.

ICTSI and PLDT gained over 2 percent while Jollibee also gained 1.54 percent. SM Investments, Metrobank, Security Bank, Semirara, URC, Ayala Corp. and Globe also firmed up.

Apart from Wilcon, another notable gainer outside of the PSEi included Bloomberry, which rose by 2.71 percent.