PSEi down 0.84% on jitters over North Korea

The local stock barometer slipped below the 8,300 mark yesterday as fresh jitters over North Korea spooked regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 69.81 points or 0.84 percent to close at 8,291.88.

“Philippine investors once again turned cautious on reports that North Korea may be preparing a missile launch,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

“Others took this as a sign to sell and take further profit during the early window-dressing session, with one more trading day left in November on Wednesday,” Limlingan added.

The market was weighed down most by the mining/oil counter, which fell by 5.07 percent. The services counter also slipped by 1.74 percent while the industrial and property counters also declined.

Only the financial counter ended in the green but the gain was very meager.

Total value turnover for the day amounted to P8.82 billion.

There were 115 decliners that edged out 75 advancers while 52 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down largely by Semirara, which slid by 6.97 percent.

Investors also dumped shares of PLDT, which fell by 4.46 percent. Metro Pacific slid by 3.14 percent.

GT Capital fell by 3.17 percent while Meralco, SM Prime, Globe Telecom, Megaworld, BPI and Ayala all declined by more than 1 percent.

Jollibee and Security Bank also contributed to the day’s decline.

On the other hand, shares of Metrobank rose by 2.08 percent as investors priced in the penalties imposed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for an internal fraud case.

BDO also slightly gained.

Notable gainers outside the PSEi were Harbor Star (+7.28 percent), PXP Energy (+4.62 percent) and Bloomberry (+3.35 percent).