PSEi slips by 0.19%

The local stock barometer started the week on a sluggish note, weighed down most by the financial counter.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slipped by 14.23 points or 0.19 percent to close at 7,658.05 in thin trade yesterday.

Stock brokerage Papa Securities said foreign flows continued to dictate the movement of the market.

“In terms of technical, the PSEi seems to be hesitating at the moment as it found support in the area of its previous trend breakout line,” Papa Securities said in a research note written by analyst Gio Perez.

The PSEi is seen to find immediate support level at 7,630.

The financial counter fell 1.35 percent while industrial and services counters also slipped.

On the other hand, the mining/oil counter added 1.06 percent. Holding firm and property counters also firmed up.

Value turnover was thin at P4.2 billion. There were 105 decliners that edged out 83 advancers while 55 stocks were unchanged.

BDO and BPI dragged the financial counter, respectively, declining by 2.19 percent and 1.81 percent. Metrobank also slipped.

Metro Pacific and Jollibee both declined by over 1 percent while Ayala Land also slipped.

SM Prime and Ayala Corp. gained by over 1 percent while SM Investments, Security Bank and JG Summit were also up.

Outside of the PSEi, notable gainers included Melco Resorts, which surged by 16.49 percent. Megawide and MRC Allied both added over 1 percent.

Megawide reported on Monday an 8-percent year-on-year increase in first quarter net profit to P475.29 million. Investors also welcomed Megawide’s report that new contracts bagged during the first three months had reached P13.3 billion, 124 percent percent of the total new contracts booked in the full year of 2017.