Blue chips snubbed in favor of second-liners

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) sank on Monday as market movements shifted focus to second-liner and speculative stocks.

By the closing bell on Monday, the PSEi was down 1 percent, or 60.45 points, to 5,938.95 while the broader all-shares index was down 0.77 percent, or 27.45 points, to 3,558.82.

“The PSEi declined today proving once again that the 6,000 resistance level is a strong turning point,” Chris Mangun, research head at stock brokerage firm AAA Equities, said in a research note.

He added there was minimal trading of blue chip companies, many of which are part of the PSEi’s composition.

“This signaled investors that already had positions to sell, and reduce exposure,” he said.

“On the other hand, there was a lot of action in second-liners and speculative issues,” he added.

Actively traded on Monday was Dito CME Holdings, which would become a telco holding company of the venture between Davao-based businessman Dennis A. Uy and China Telecom.

Dito CME jumped 18.23 percent to P6.81 per share.

Another big gainer was ABS-CBN Corp., which hit the price ceiling of 50 percent to end at P10.58 per share.

Mangun said this was dri­ven by rumors ABS-CBN could return to television under another free channel.

Overall, a total of 2.73 billion shares valued at P6.46 billion changed hands on Monday. There were 130 decliners against 76 gainers, while 42 companies closed unchanged. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS INQ