PSEi down 1.09% but still above 7,500

The local stock barometer underperformed regional markets on Monday amid continued foreign portfolio outflows but stayed afloat the critical 7,500 mark.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) tumbled by 82.99 points or 1.09 percent to close at 7,500.53, defying the upswing seen elsewhere in the region.

Most investors chose to pare down their holdings ahead of the local holiday break on Tuesday, a nonworking holiday in celebration of Ninoy Aquino Day.

The PSEi was weighed down most by holding firms, whose sub-index slumped by 2.1 percent.

The mining/oil counter also lost 1.55 percent, while the financial, industrial and property counters all declined.

Only the services counter posted a modest gain of 0.22 percent.

Value turnover hit P5.4 billion. The market was weighed down by P669.9 million in net foreign selling during the day.

There were 115 decliners that edged out 85 advancers while 40 stocks were unchanged.

If the recovery seen in emerging markets would trickle down to the local market, stock brokerage Papa Securities said there was a potential for the index to trade sideways to 7,800 in the next few days.

Investors picked dumped shares of Ayala Corp., which slid by 4.4 percent, while Meralco declined by 3.53 percent.

GT Capital lost 2.35 percent while SM Investments, URC and BDO all declined by over 1 percent.

Ayala Land, the day’s most actively traded stock, shed 0.71 percent.

Outside of the PSEi, there was heavy selling on Berjaya Philippines, which slid by 35.19 percent.

Vulcan Mining was down 3.14 percent while TBGI lost 1.49 percent.

SM Prime, Jollibee, Globe, BPI and PLDT posted modest gains.

Some investors focused on non-PSEi stocks for trading opportunities.

One outperformer for the day was APC, which surged by 32.61 percent. This was as the Department of Energy approved the application of Aragorn Power and Energy Corporation (Apec) for its Kalinga Geothermal Project to qualify as an Energy Project of National Significance. The Certificate of Energy Project of National Significance for Pre-Development Stage had been issued in favor of Apec, a majority-owned subsidiary of APC.