PSEi closes down 0.2%

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index closed lower yesterday as local investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the long weekend while foreigners turned into net sellers.

The PSEi closed down 0.20 percent, or 14.58 points, to 7,367.85 while the broader all-shares index was down 0.05 percent or 2 points to 7,367.85.

Of note was the surge in volume on the last trading day of the week. Data from the PSE showed that a total of 1.32 billion shares valued at P20.1 billion changed hands yesterday. It also showed that this was mainly due to the surge in foreign activity.

Specifically, foreign selling hit P15.71 billion against buying of P15.03 billion. This resulted in net foreign selling of P680.4 million.

On a per sector basis, only property and financials ended with gains. Losers were led by holding firms, down 0.71 percent, followed by services, down 0.68 percent, and industrial firms, down 0.52 percent.

Meanwhile, gainers outnumbered decliners 112 to 78 while 52 companies closed unchanged.

Metropolitan Bank & Trust was the most actively traded on Thursday as it slid lower by 1.65 percent to P74.60 per share.

It was followed by BDO Unibank Inc., up 0.85 percent to P130.20, Ayala Land Inc., up 3.48 percent to P41.65, SM Investments Corp., down 0.71 percent to P908.50, and Ayala Corp., up 0.32 percent to P951 per share.