Stocks slide as Metro Manila prepares to open partially for business

The local stock barometer tumbled below 5,600 level on Friday ahead of Metro Manila’s reopening for limited business after a two-month lockdown meant to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) tumbled by 112.75 points or 1.99 percent to close at 5,541.95 as investors priced in the latest stream of first quarter earnings and the gradual lifting of quarantine measures in Metro Manila.

For the week, the PSEi shed 79.99 points or 1.42 percent.

Papa Securities said support and resistance levels for the PSEi remained at 5,500 and 6,000, respectively.

The decline was led by the property counter, which slid by 3.24 percent, while holding firms fell by 2.09 percent.

The financial counter declined by 1.92 percent, while the industrial and mining/oil counters slipped by nearly 1 percent.

The services counter gained by a meager 0.18 percent.

Value turnover remained thin at P4.53 billion. There was P654.56 million worth of net foreign selling for the day.

There were 103 decliners that outnumbered 70 advan­cers, while 46 stocks were unchanged.

SM Prime and AEV dragged down the PSEi, both falling by over 5 percent. SM Prime repor­ted its first year-on-year contraction in quarterly profits in the first quarter in over two decades.

JG Summit lost 4.08 percent as its airline business turned unprofitable in the first quarter, while the petrochemical business widened losses.

BDO, the day’s most actively traded company, fell by 3.93 percent.

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. lost 2.9 percent, while Ayala Land, URC, ICTSI, SM Investments, Puregold and Metrobank all fell by over 1 percent.

BPI, Meralco, GT Capital and Security Bank also slipped.

Telecom stocks bucked the day’s downturn. Globe Telecom and PLDT rose by 2.3 percent and 1.58 percent, respectively.

RRHI and Jollibee both eked out marginal gains. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA