Waiting for inspiration, PSEi still feeling blah on fifth day

The local stock barometer dipped for the fifth straight session on Thursday as foreign investors continued to dump local equities.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 3.01 points or 0.04 percent to close at 7,140.29.

“The PSEi ended flat as there was very little action in blue chips. There was increased selling pressure at the open, which lasted throughout the session. Last minute buying allowed it to recover some of its losses to end flat,” said Christopher Mangun, head of research at AAA Equities.

“The trend remains the same for the PSEi as sentiment remains cautious. This trend will continue until investors see clearer signs that the economy continues to recover,” he added.

Most of the day’s action was in second-liners and speculative issues but the bloodbath intensified for speculative third-liners, he noted. “Investors that have jumped the gun are now paying the price,” he said.

Except for the property counter, which gained a marginal 4.56 points or 0.13 percent, all counters slipped. The biggest decliner was the mining/oil counter, which lost 1.82 percent.

Total value turnover for the day amounted to P9.7 billion. There was P996 million worth of net foreign selling for the day.

Decliners overwhelmed advancers, 169 to 66; while 39 stocks were unchanged.

GT Capital declined by 3 percent, while JG Summit fell by 1.35 percent.

BDO and Jollibee both lost less than 1 percent.

Meanwhile, some speculative stocks plummeted after sizzling in previous days.

Apollo Global and Basic Energy—the top two traded companies—both slid by over 29 percent, along with Abra Mining, Abacore, Oriental Petroleum, Altus and Philodrill, which all declined by about the same magnitude.

Premiere Horizon and MRC Allied both fell by over 23 percent, while Global Ferronickel shed 6.6 percent.

On the other hand, Puregold rose by 3.29 percent, while ICTSI added a marginal 0.08 percent.

Notable gainers outside the PSEi included Dito, AC Energy and MerryMart, which added 6.03 percent, 3.43 percent and 0.83 percent in relatively heavy volume. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA