PSEi down 3.6 pts on foreign selling

The local stock barometer opened the week on a flat note in line with mostly sluggish regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 3.6 points or 0.05 percent to close at 7,867.51, weighed down by some P811 million worth of net foreign selling.

“The PSEi continues to get weaker as investors are on the sidelines on continuous concerns on the slowdown of economic growth and a pending recession in the world’s largest economy,” AAA Securities head of research Christopher Mangun said.

The main support for the PSEi remains at 7,750, Mangun added.

The PSEi was weighed down most by the services and mining/oil counters, which both fell by over 1 percent.

The financial, industrial and holding firm counters also slipped.

The interest rate-sensitive property counter bucked the day’s downturn, rising by 1.18 percent ahead of this week’s policy meeting of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Value turnover amounted to P5.85 billion. There were 149 decliners that edged out 54 advancers, while 45 stocks were unchanged.

PLDT fell by 3.05 percent while GT Capital and Megaworld both declined by over 2 percent.

ICTSI, URC and AGI all lost over 1 percent.

Ayala Corp., BPI, Metrobank and Security Bank also slipped.

Outside the PSEi, APC declined by 1.41 percent while Top Frontier and Wilcon both declined by less than 1 percent.

Meanwhile, SM Prime advanced by 2 percent, while SM Investments and Ayala Land both added over 1 percent. Jollibee and BDO both firmed up. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA