Profit-taking, foreign selling pull PSEi down by 1.17%

The local stock barometer slipped below the 6,100 mark in another thin trading session on Wednesday as investors shied away from local equities as the coronavirus pandemic continued to wreak havoc on the glo­bal economy.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 72.05 points or 1.17 percent to close at 6,064.26. Elsewhere in the region, trading sentiment was mixed.

“Investors took profits as the local second quarter earnings releases will start next week and kept to the sidelines ahead of the Sona (State of the Nation-Address of President Duterte) on Monday,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at local stock brokerage Regina Capital Development.

Plans for additional fiscal stimulus and historic budget package unveiled by the European Union also spooked markets. Limlingan said these plans had only “left many wondering on the extent of the pandemic’s damage.”

At the local market, value turnover remained scant at P4.5 billion. About P393 million worth of net foreign selling aggravated the day’s downturn.

“The PSEi ended lower as we saw a rush of selling right at the run-off, which caused it to close at its lowest level for the day. The increased selling pressure at the end of trading day is a clear sign that investors lack optimism. Trading volumes remain low as buyers are hesitant to pick up battered shares,” said Christopher Mangun, head of research at AAA Equities.

“The sentiment is extremely cautious due to the uncertainty in the business environment in the coming months,” he added.

The market was weighed down most by holding firms, whose counter declined by 1.92 percent.

The financial, industrial and property counters all declined by less than 1 percent.

The mining/oil counter added 0.7 percent.

There were 105 decliners that outnumbered 89 advancers, while 35 stocks were unchanged.

Semirara fell by 7.95 percent on news that a worker had died in an accident near a mining pit on Semirara Island in Antique on Monday. There are also expectations that it may be stricken out of the PSEi and replaced by Emperador in the next index rebalancing. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA