PSEi back at 7,700-level as investors look to profit on recent plays

The stock barometer slid back to the 7,700 level on Wednesday as domestic investors mostly pocketed recent gains while foreign players scouted for bargains.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) tumbled by 129.33 points or 1.63 percent to close at 7,794.17 as investors unloaded overbought stocks.

Local stock brokerage Papa Securities said in a research report that the PSEi was seeing a short-term pullback based on a bearish chart formation. This was a time for investors to buy on dips, the brokerage said.

“Price action shows a bearish dark cloud cover a candlestick formation; this signals a short-term pullback,” Papa Securities said. Further supporting this view was the relative strength of the index, which was now in overbought levels, the brokerage added.

Papa Securities said the next support was at 7,704 while the resistance would be between 8,049 and 8,263.

All counters fell on Friday but the most battered was the holding firm sub-index, which slumped by 2.35 percent; while the financial and industrial counters both declined by over 1 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P10.46 billion.

While domestic players locked up profits, foreign players were net buyers in the market, with transactions amounting to P540.22 million.

There were 133 decliners that edged out 78 advancers, while 35 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down most by GT Capital, which slid by 4.62 percent. SM Investments, Jollibee and Megaworld all fell by over 3 percent.

Investors also sold down shares of Ayala Corp., BDO, Globe, URC and JG Summit while SM Prime and MPI also slipped.

On the other hand, ICTSI and Semirara both gained over 1 percent; while Ayala Land, the day’s most actively traded company, added 0.52 percent.

Notable gainers outside the PSEi included Arthaland, which rose by 3.6 percent, along with Pilipinas Shell which added 0.9 percent.

Arthaland received good tidings from the strong first quarter earnings performance of two other publicly listed companies led by the Po family—Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. and Century Pacific Food.