PSEi falls below 8,000

The local stock barometer slipped below the 8,000 mark yesterday, tracking weak sentiment in Wall Street ahead of the Philippines’ fourth quarter 2018 economic report card release.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 19.02 points or 0.24 percent to close at 7,989.65.

The PSEi hit a low of 7,901.64 in intraday trade, weighed down by the depreciation of the peso against the US dollar. However, the PSEi pared losses to finish at the day’s high.

The government is scheduled to report today the country’s fourth quarter 2018 gross domestic product (GDP) performance. Consensus estimate is a growth of 6.3 percent.

“(We’re) not expecting much from the high level talks between China and the United States by the end of the month. Much of the recovery in the global equities was attributed to this. Given this, anticipate short-term pullback in the local market. Support is at 7,800,” local stock brokerage Papa Securities said.

On Wednesday, the index was weighed down by the financial, industrial, holding firm, services, mining/oil and property counters.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P6.66 billion. The market was dragged mainly by local investors. Also, there was net foreign buying of P219.7 million.

There were 120 decliners and 77 advancers while 57 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down by Jollibee and BPI, which both fell by over 2 percent.

Ayala Land, Puregold, Metro Pacific and AEV all declined by over 1 percent while Ayala Corp., San Miguel Corp., URC and JG Summit also slipped.

On the other hand, AGI and PLDT both gained over 1 percent, while SM Prime, BDO, Metrobank and Globe all firmed up.

Outside the PSEi, one notable gainer was Premiere Horizon Alliance (PHA), which surged by 50 percent for the second straight session. PHA earlier disclosed a P15-billion long-term funding facility from Doha-based Sama Global Investment.