PH stocks buck regional uptrend

The local stock barometer slipped modestly on Tuesday, bucking an upswing across regional markets, but it stayed above the 8,000 mark.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 10.72 points or 0.13 percent to close at 8,013.42.

Elsewhere in the region, trading was mostly upbeat as investors welcomed China’s efforts to counter an economic slowdown.

“Trading volumes are consistent and blue chips remain heavily traded, which is a good sign. Some investors took profit while others took the opportunity to come in. We may see this trend until the end of the week,” Eagle Equities head of research Christopher Mangun said.

At the local market, the main index was weighed down by the industrial and holding firm counters, while the financial, services, mining/oil and property counters eked out small gains.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P6.52 billion. Foreign funds continued to trickle back to the market, resulting in a net foreign buying position of P258.98 million for the day.

There were 102 advancers that edged out 86 decliners while 63 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down by Jollibee and ICTSI, which fell by 2.78 percent and 2.57 percent, respectively.

Conglomerates SM Investments and GT Capital also fell by more than 1 percent.

BDO, JG Summit, Ayala Corp. and LTG also ended lower.

On the other hand, BPI gained 2.07 percent after reporting that its credit exposure to Korean shipbuilder Hanjin was only $52 million versus the earlier reported level of $60 million.

AGI gained 2.6 percent while Ayala Land, Metro Pacific, PLDT and Globe Telecom all added more than 1 percent.

URC, SM Prime and AEV posted modest gains.

One notable gainer outside the PSEi was Bloomberry, which rose 1.67 percent in relatively heavy volume.

Shares of RCBC, which clarified that its credit exposure to Hanjin was $145 million versus an earlier estimate of $140 million, were unchanged. RCBC said its exposure to Hanjin involved four shipbuilding contracts, the completion of which would allow the repayment of the loan.

For its part, Metrobank said its exposure to Hanjin was “low relative to our total assets of P2.1 trillion,” adding that it had adequate provisions and thus did not see any significant impact to its operations.

BDO said its Hanjin exposure represented only 0.15 percent of its total loan portfolio, adding that this was “not considered a material amount.”