The local stock barometer started the week on a sluggish note in the absence of fresh incentives for investors to gobble up local equities.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 35.02 points or 0.48 percent to close at 7,203.44, in line with mostly cautious regional markets.
“It’s looking to be a muted start for the week for the PSEi as the index still tries to find its ground on whether or not it would be able to sustain itself above the 7,000 level,” local stock brokerage Papa Securities said.
Last Friday, profit-taking and weak economic data dragged down US stock indices.
“As for the [local] index, the main catalyst that we’d keep our eye on would be if the UK COVID-19 variant does lead to a considerable increase in cases over the next few weeks. A noticeable enough spike could heavily weigh on the index and the market’s sentiments,” Papa Securities said.
Most counters tumbled, especially the mining/oil and financial counters, which declined by 3.08 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.
The holding firm and services counters both slipped by less than 1 percent.
On the other hand, the industrial counter rose by 0.23 percent.
Value turnover for the day amounted to P10.38 billion. Foreigners continued to dump local equities, resulting in P509.91 million worth of net foreign selling.
There were 137 decliners that outnumbered 95 advancers, while 43 stocks were unchanged.
BDO fell by 2.23 percent, while Ayala Land, Puregold and Metrobank all declined by over 1 percent.
SM Investments, SM Prime, BPI and Jollibee all slipped by less than 1 percent.
Outside the PSEi, notable decliners included TBGI, which slid by 7.27 percent, while Dito and PHA lost 1.49 percent and 0.69 percent, respectively.
The market, still dominated by local retail investors, continued to focus on second- and third-liner stocks. The top two traded companies were Basic Energy and Abra Mining, which surged by 30 percent and 49 percent, respectively.
Abacore rallied by 25 percent and OPM added 42.86 percent in relatively heavy trade.
Investors also picked up shares of Apollo Global, MerryMart and AC Energy, which rose by 1.67 percent, 2.63 percent and 42.86 percent, respectively. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA INQ