PSEi pulls back from record highs

The local stock barometer succumbed to profit-taking on Wednesday after scaling new heights and testing the 8,500 barrier.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 66.01 points or 0.78 percent to close at 8,431.73.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the day amounting to P650.97 million.

“A long overdue correction finally came, just right after the PSEi closed in an unprecedented all time high,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

The PSEi pierced the 8,500 barrier for the first time in intra-day trade on Tuesday before closing at its best ever finish of 8,497.74. The index retested the barrier on Wednesday, hitting as high as 8,548.58 before reversing early gains.

“The bullish technical indicators are already showing weakness so expect profit-taking in the local bourse. A downtrend within the week is possible as MACD (moving average convergence) divergence points downwards and directional movement indicators (DMIs) start to converge,” Limlingan said.

“The flat ADX (average directional index) reflects that the previous bullish trend is not strong enough to sustain trading above 8,500. Both money flow index and relative strength index (RSI) have reached the overbought region, with RSI now dipping,” he added.

On the other hand, S&P 500 and Dow industrials closed at all-time highs in Wall Street on Tuesday.

At the local market, all counters fell, led by the mining/oil counter which slipped by 3.17 percent while the holding firm sub-index declined by 1.26 percent.

Total value turnover amounted to P9.26 billion. There were 138 decliners that edged out 72 advancers while 35 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down most by Semirara, which lost 4.02 percent, while AGI declined by 3.06 percent.

Ayala Corp., RRHI and Metrobank all fell by over 2 percent while URC, GT Capital, SM Investments, Megaworld, ICTSI and Puregold faltered by over 1 percent.

Ayala Land, SM Prime, BPI and Globe Telecom also slipped.

Outside the PSEi, notable decliners included PXP Energy (-5.14 percent).

Meanwhile, PLDT bucked the day’s downturn with its 2.04-percent gain. BDO and Jollibee also firmed up.