Weighed down by property stocks, PSEi loses 0.48%

The local stock barometer started the week on a sluggish note as an intensified anti-online gaming rhetoric from China, the main market and source of manpower of this industry, dampened interest on the property sector.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 38.08 points or 0.48 percent to close at 7,848.83.

But outside of the PSEi, newly listed Kepwealth Property Philippines Inc. (KPPI) rallied by another 49.92 percent despite earlier denial that it could be the backdoor listing vehicle for local lodging chain Sogo.

KPPI, which listed on the PSE’s small, medium and emerging (SME) board last week, has a strong retail following. The PSE reported that the local small investor (LSI) tranche for KPPI’s initial public offering (IPO) posted a 94-percent all-time high subscription take-up.

The LSI program requires companies conducting an IPO to allocate for LSIs 10 percent of shares they will offer to the public. Investors can participate in the LSI program by subscribing to a minimum board lot of up to P100,000.

KPPI was the first IPO to use the PSE’s new online LSI subscription platform called PSE Electronic Allocation System (PSE EASy).

Meanwhile, the PSEi was weighed down most by the property counter, which tumbled by 1.78 percent as investors priced in the adverse impact of a crackdown on Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogo), an industry that had perked up the real estate industry in the last three years.

“The main index ended lower today due to the massive losses in the property sector which dragged the whole market lower. Investors continue to focus on second-liners with several companies hitting its ceiling price today. The PSEi may end slightly higher this week if it does not break below the 7,750 support level,” AAA Equities head of research Christopher Mangun said.

There were 129 decliners that edged out 75 advancers while 44 stocks were unchanged. There was P435 million in net foreign selling.

The PSEi was weighed down most by Megaworld, which lost another 8.51 percent due to Pogo jitters.

AGI and GT Capital both declined by over 3.6 percent, while RLC lost 2.63 percent.

SM Prime and Ayala Corp. declined by over 1 percent while Ayala Land, SM Investments, ICTSI, Jollibee and RRHI all slipped.

On the other hand, PLDT and URC both added over 2 percent while BDO and Metro Pacific gained over 1 percent. Metrobank and BPI also firmed up.

Meanwhile, another notable gainer outside the PSEi aside from KPPI was Phinma Petroleum, which surged by 50 percent.