Heavy foreign selling drags market down 1.19%

The local stock barometer fell to the 6,800 level yesterday, tracking sluggish US and regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gave up 82.37 points or 1.19 percent to close at a new year-low of 6,843.83 on heavy foreign selling.

The decline was expected as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 had respectively fallen by 2.3 percent and 2 percent overnight, Eagle Equities head of research Christopher Mangun said.

The index broke past a major support level at 6,900 and marked its lowest finish this 2018.

“The next support comes in at 6,725,” Mangun said.

All counters ended lower, led by the financial, holding firm and property counters, which all tumbled by over 1 percent.

Total value turnover for the day amounted to P8.17 billion. There was P1.26 billion net foreign selling.
There were 155 decliners that overwhelmed 55 advancers while 36 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down most by JG Summit, which slid by 6.89 percent.

Metro Pacific lost 4.84 percent, while Aboitiz Power and SM Prime both declined by over 2 percent.

SM Investments, BDO Unibank, Metrobank and PLDT all lost over 1 percent.

Ayala Corp., Ayala Land, Jollibee, URC and BPI all slipped.

Outside the PSEi, notable decliners included Chelsea, which declined by 3.58 percent, while Megawide fell by 2.02 percent.

Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy’s ISM continued to sizzle, rising by 8 percent. It was the day’s most actively traded company.

It was reported that the third telco selection committee had denied an appeal filed by PT&T, which was disqualified from the bidding.

Uy’s group, in partnership with China Telecom, emerged as the provisional third telco subject to further review.