PH bucks regional trend; shares close below 7,800

The local stock barometer closed the week below 7,800 as foreign funds continued to flow out of local equities.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 56.94 points, or 0.73 percent, to close on Friday at 7,747.09 even as most regional markets ended higher.

For the week, the main local index added 163.27 points, or 2.15 percent, as the monetary easing announced by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas boosted domestic bargain-hunting.

Local stock brokerage Papa Securities said it did not seem like a push towards 8,000 would happen in the immediate future given the overnight weakness of the US equities markets.

The initial support for the PSEi lies at its recent low of 7,475, Papa Securities said.

“We reiterate that we are a buyer if the index further dips to this level,” it said.

On Friday, the PSEi was weighed down most by the industrial and property counters, which both lost over 1 percent.

Except for services, which gained by a marginal 0.29 percent, all other subindices slipped.

Total value turnover for the day amounted to P7.42 billion. Net foreign selling persisted to the tune of P736.08 million for the day.

There were 125 decliners that edged out 73 advancers, while 44 stocks were unchanged.

LTG dragged the PSEi the most, declining by 4.79 percent.

Jollibee lost 2.11 percent, while Ayala Land, SM Prime and JG Summit all fell by over 1 percent.

BDO, ICTSI, BPI, SM Investments, Globe Telecom and Bloomberry also slipped.

There was heavy selling among some non-PSEi stocks. The day’s most actively traded company was Global Ferronickel, which fell by 1.9 percent.

D&L Industries also declined by 1.19 percent and was the day’s most actively traded counter.

Megawide and ISM Communications fell by 1.46 percent and 3.27 percent, respectively.