The local stock barometer dipped on Wednesday as investors started to price in the latest rebalancing of MSCI indices alongside the economic impact of an extended lockdown of Metro Manila.
Security Bank will be deleted from the MSCI Global Standard index while retailer Puregold Price Club will be added at market’s close on May 29,
Security Bank will in turn be added to the MSCI small cap index along with home improvement retailer AllHome and DMCI Holdings while East West Bank, MacroAsia and Megawide will be deleted.
As passive investingor the strategy of tracking a basket of assets or an index instead of actively buying or selling stocks—is gaining traction globally, investors increasingly track major indices such as those provided by MSCI to understand global fund flows that influence stock movements.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 25.42 points or 0.45 percent to close at 5,626.25 on Wednesday. The market was weighed down most by the mining/oil counter, while the financial, holding firm, services and property counters all slipped.
Only the industrial counter ended slightly higher.
Value turnover for the day was thin at P4.79 billion. Foreign selling continued, resulting in a net outflow of P394.37 million for the day.
There were 111 decliners that overwhelmed 64 advancers, while 48 companies were unchanged.
The PSEi was weighed down most by Security Bank, which lost 8 percent following the announcement of the latest MSCI rebalancing, while SM Prime and Metro Pacific both fell by over 3 percent.
Ayala Corp. and Globe Telecom both slipped by over 1 percent, while JG Summit, BPI, DMCI and Metrobank all declined by less than 1 percent.
Outside of the PSEi, notable decliners included Cirtek, which pulled back by 3.73 percent after its run-up on Tuesday.
In the meantime, Ayala Land and Meralco both rose by over 2 percent, while SM Investments added 1.1 percent.
URC, PLDT, RRHI and BDO all firmed up by less than 1 percent.
Shares of Puregold, a beneficiary of the recent MSCI rebalancing, was unchanged. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA