Stock price index falls below 8,100 mark

The local stock barometer slipped below 8,100 on Monday as foreign investors pocketed recent gains from the stock market’s recent run-up.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 59.57 points or 0.73 percent to close at 8,084.45 while regional markets traded with mixed sentiment.

The market was weighed down most by the services counter, which fell by 1.31 percent, while the financial, holding firm, mining/oil and property counters also slipped. Only the industrial counter eked out meager gains.

“Philippine stocks began the Monday session on a cautious note following a decline in US stocks on Friday. There was added concern because Senate Republicans narrowly passed a bill to overhaul the US tax system. One change secured would increase a proposed 17.4-percent deduction of income for those entities to 23 percent, which will be paid for with an increase in the repatriation tax rate for foreign earnings from the original 10 percent to 14 percent,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.55 billion. Foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of P474.19 million.

There were 119 decliners that edged out 68 advancers while 55 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down most by Ayala Corp. and Security Bank, which both lost more than 2 percent, while Ayala Land and Jollibee both slipped by over 1 percent.

BDO, SM Prime, SM Investments, Megaworld, Meralco, BPI and PLDT also declined.

Outside of the PSEi, notabler decliners included PXP Energy (-7.22 percent), D&L Industries (-3.41 percent) and MacroAsia (-1.9 percent).

ON the other hand, Metrobank, URC and JG Summit slightly firmed up.

One notable gainer outside PSEi was Cemex, which surged by 4.41 percent.