The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) slipped lower ahead of a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas policy meeting on Thursday.
The PSEi closed the session down 0.17 percent, or 13.76 points, to 7,933.71 while the broader All-Shares index lost 0.13 percent or 6.16 points to 4,757.73.
Volume was again relatively light with 655.3 million shares valued at P4.2 billion changing hands. Trading closed before the Monetary Board of the BSP announced that key interest rates would remain unchanged. (See story on page B1.)
On the individual sector performance, the property and financial sub-indices rose 0.29 percent and 0.06 percent, respectively. The rest declined, led by industrial companies, down 1.75 percent, followed by holding firms, down 0.12 percent, and services, down 0.03 percent.
Poor sentiments also weighed on the market, with 107 companies declining yesterday versus 78 gainers. The remaining 55 firms closed unchanged.
Conglomerate Ayala Corp. was the most actively traded on Thursday as it lost 0.73 percent to P818 a share.
It was followed by Jollibee Foods Corp., down 4.97 percent to P202.60; SM Investments Corp., up 1.04 percent to P1,070; Ayala Land Inc., up 0.11 percent to P47, and Alliance Global Group Inc., down 0.17 percent to P11.60 a share.
Other actively traded companies were DMCI Holdings, down 2.78 percent to P7.68; International Container Terminal Services Inc., down 1.61 percent to P122; Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., up 0.52 percent to P68; SM Prime Holdings, up 0.38 percent to P39.30, and BDO Unibank Inc., up 0.45 percent to P156 a share.