Stocks end slightly lower in slow trade

The local stock barometer ended slightly lower on Monday as investors were cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s last meetings for the year.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 3.97 points, or 0.05 percent to close at 7,520.40, weighed down by a wave of foreign selling. Elsewhere in the region, trading sentiment was mixed.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve is set to hold its final meetings for this year and is seen raising interest rates for a fourth time.

“The Federal Reserve is generally anticipated to hike interest rates Wednesday. What it signals about future rise will be more on focus. Low inflation, that has undercut the Fed’s 2-percent mark, and apprehensions for lingering economic weakness are key factors that could complicate the US outlook. Fed may signal that it is considering to lower its planned rate hike in 2019 from three to two. This circumstance may trigger weakness in the US dollar in the near term,” Papa Securities said in a research note.

With this, Papa Securities sees the peso testing the 52 level against the dollar.

“Most investors may have already gone on vacations as trading value was below average with P5.9 billion traded. The PSEi ended the day flat and still above 7,500, however, if low trading value continues, we may see it end in the red for the week,” said Christopher Mangun, head of research at Eagle Equities Inc.

This week is the last full week of trading for the year before the market goes on Christmas and New Year holidays.

By counter, the mining/oil counter was the most battered for the day, declining by 2.36 percent. The financial and holding firm counters also slipped.

On the other hand, the services counter gained 1.09 percent, while the industrial and property counters added 0.55 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.93 billion. Overall sentiment was weighed down by P822 million in net foreign selling. There were 98 decliners that edged out 93 advancers while 45 stocks were unchanged.

Investors sold down shares of Metrobank, SM Investments and BPI, while RLC also slipped.

On the other hand, the PSEi’s decline was tempered by the gains of SMC, which rebounded by 6.48 percent after being sold down last week.

PLDT added 2.11 percent, while Ayala Corp., ICTSI and AGI all gained over 1 percent.

SM Prime was the day’s most actively traded stock and gained 0.87 percent.