Vacation-keen market slips to 7,800

The local stock barometer tumbled to the 7,800 level on Monday, bucking the upswing across regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 80.62 points or 1.02 percent to close at 7,840.31 in thin value turnover.

Joseph Roxas, president at stock brokerage Eagle Equities, said many market players already seemed to be on vacation mode ahead of the Holy Week (April 14 to 20).

At the same time, he said some local players could now be busy with the mid-term elections and the local tax payment season.

Value turnover for the day amounted to just P5.53 billion.

The market was weighed down most by the mining/oil counter, which tumbled by 3.33 percent.

The financial and services counters fell by 1.87 percent and 1.74 percent, respectively.

The holding firm and property counters also both declined.

There were 120 decliners that overwhelmed 65 advancers, while 55 stocks were unchanged.

Metrobank, AGI and PLDT all slipped by over 3 percent.

BDO, SM Prime and Metro Pacific were down by over 2 percent, while ICTSI, Ayala Corp. and Megaworld all declined by over 1 percent.

SM Investments and Jollibee slipped, too.

Outside of the PSEi, notable decliners included PXP Energy, which slid by 18.89 percent.  Pilipinas Shell fell by 3.04 percent while PNB lost 0.35 percent.

On the other hand, Meralco added 1.32 percent.  Ayala Land, the day’s most actively traded company, firmed up by 0.22 percent.  URC also slightly gained.