Profit-taking pulls PSEi down 2.19%

The local stock barometer pulled back to the 6,400 le­vel on Wednesday as investors took their cue from Wall Street, which took a respite from its dizzying equities run-up.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gave up 144.47 points or 2.19 percent to close at 6,439.37. Elsewhere in the region, trading sentiment was mixed as investors awaited guidance on the US Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy move.

At the local market, investors heeded signals from the US market alongside overbought momentum indicators to lock up recent gains.

Domestic investors were mostly the ones that trimmed their equities holdings as local stocks hit their highest levels since the local outbreak of coronavirus last March. Foreigners, on the other hand, were mostly net buyers albeit at a modest volume of P318.79 million.

With the resistance level at 5,575, where the lower bound of the gap lies, Papa Securities said the PSEi’s initial support would be at about 6,200.

All counters tumbled, but the worst hit were the mining/oil and financial counters which both fell by over 3 percent.

The holding firm and property counters both lost over 2 percent, while the industrial counter shed 1.13 percent. The services counter slipped by 0.35 percent.

Total value turnover for the day amounted to P8.96 billion.

There were 147 decliners that overwhelmed 55 advancers, while 41 stocks were unchanged.

GT Capital and Security Bank were the day’s steepest PSEi decliners, both falling by over 5 percent.

BDO and Ayala Land lost over 4 percent, while URC declined by 3.36 percent.

AGI, Ayala Corp., Metrobank, ICTSI, BPI and JG Summit all declined by over 2 percent.

SM Investments, the day’s most actively traded company, fell by 1.58 percent.

SM Prime and Metro Pacific both slipped by over 1 percent, while Globe Telecom declined by less than 1 percent.

One notable decliner outside the PSEi was San Miguel Food and Beverage, which slid by 2.91 percent.

On the other hand, Jollibee advanced by 4.39 percent, while PLDT added 2.6 percent.

Non-PSEi stocks Emperador and Dito gained by 0.71 percent and 0.36 percent, respectively, in relatively big volume.