PSEi starts the week on a sluggish note
The local stock barometer started the week on a sluggish note as domestic investors pocketed gains from the upswing in the past four trading days.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gave up 76.34 points, or 1.02 percent, to close at 7,430.86 on Monday, tracking mostly lackluster markets in the region.
Christopher Mangun, head of research at local stock brokerage AAA Equities, said most Asian equities weakened as the death toll from the coronavirus contagion continued to soar, surpassing the body count during the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak of 2003. Conversely, he noted that China’s Shanghai composite ended higher as authorities lifted some work and travel limitations, helping businesses resume operations.
At the PSEi, he noted that several blue chips lost more than 3 percent of their value, thus dragging the index.
Foreigners, however, were net buyers to the tune of P2.05 billion.
Mangun said the PSEi pulled back after failing to breach the 7,475 resistance level.
“This is in line with our forecast that it may start to trade within the range of 7,200 and 7,475 in the coming weeks,” he said.
The market was weighed down most by the mining/oil counter, which fell by 3.41 percent.
The financial and industrial counter lost over 2 percent, while the services counter declined by 1.17 percent.
Only the financial counter eked out gains, albeit marginal.
Value turnover for the day amounted to P8.68 billion. Excluding block sales, about P7.01 billion worth of shares changed hands.
There were 120 decliners that edged out 77 advancers, while 45 stocks were unchanged.The PSEi was weighed down most by BDO, GT Capital, PLDT and JG Summit, which all tumbled by over 3 percent.
URC shed 2.45 percent, while ICTSI and Jollibee both lost over 1 percent.
SM Prime and Bloomberry both slipped.
One notable decliner was ISM, which slid by 13.17 percent.
On the other hand, Ayala Corp. gained 1.47 percent, while its property arm, Ayala Land Inc., added 0.81 percent. Ayala Land, through a new unit called AREIT, is the first to file an
application to embark on an initial public offering using the newly minted real estate investment trust framework. APREA has submitted a proposal to raise P15 billion in fresh capital.
Outside the PSEi, one notable gainer is Euro-Med, which surged by 50 percent.
Agrinurture, on the other hand, rose by 26 percent, while newly listed Fruitas gained 4.64 percent. INQ
