Market fails to crackle, pop ahead of the Pig’s entry

MANILA, Philippines – The local stock barometer slipped below the 8,100 mark on Monday ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday break.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 74.68 points or 0.92 percent to close at 8,069.48.

“There was very minimal trading in blue chips; most trading was in second-liners and speculative issues because of the holiday (today). It is notable that it was still able to close above the key-8,000 level,” said Christopher Mangun, head of research at Eagle Equities Inc.

There will be no trading in the stock market in celebration of the Lunar New Year. Despite the holiday, the Philippines’ inflation data will be released today.

Other Asian markets started their holiday on Monday.

“We may see it bounce back and test resistance at 8,100 on Wednesday,” Mangun added.

On Monday, foreign funds continued to flow into the market, resulting in some P1.01 billion in net foreign buying for the day. Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.322 billion.

The PSEi was weighed down by the financial, industrial, holding firm and property counters.

The services and mining/oil counters slightly gained.

There were 124 advancers that edged out 83 decliners, while 47 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down mostly by SM stocks. Index heavyweights SM Investments, BDO Unibank and SM Prime all fell by over 1 percent alongside Globe Telecom and Jollibee.

Outside the PSEi, there was heavy selling on PHA, which slid by 17.9 percent. In previous weeks, its shares have rapidly gained in anticipation of a public offering by its subsidiary Philippine Georesources and Development Inc.

Macay Holdings also tumbled by 8.57 percent.

On the other hand, ICTSI, Puregold and URC slightly gained.

Investors also focused on issuers outside the PSEi. Zeus Holdings surged by 36.23 percent while Xurpas Inc. advanced by 6.02 percent.

Last week, Xurpas announced it had revamped its top management team and engaged regional advisory firm Primeiro Partners to map out its next stage of growth.

Bloomberry and Wilcon were both up by over 2 percent.