The local stock barometer was stuck in the doldrums for the sixth straight session on Friday as foreign investors continued to stay away from local equities.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) tumbled by 94.46 points or 1.32 percent to close at 7,045.83.
“Local shares were hammered down near the 7,000 psychological support as investors shifted their focus toward the [United States], where optimism picked up on plans of POTUS (President of the US) (Joe) Biden to combat the pandemic,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.
For the full week, the PSEi shed a total of 192.63 points or 2.7 percent.
On Friday, the market was dragged down the most by the financial, holding firm, services and property counters, which all lost over 1 percent.
The industrial and mining/oil counters added less than 1 percent.
Value turnover for the day amounted to P11.39 billion. There was net foreign selling of P1.42 billion.
There were 117 decliners that edged out 104 advancers, while 39 stocks were unchanged.
Leading conglomerate SM Investments and PLDT both fell by over 3 percent, while SM Prime and BPI both declined by over 2 percent.
Ayala Land and Metrobank both slipped by over 1 percent, while ICTSI, BDO and Jollibee both lost less than 1 percent.
Outside the PSEi, notable decliners included speculative stocks that sizzled in previous days. Apollo Global, the day’s most actively traded company, declined by 7.25 percent.
GT Capital and Ayala Corp. both gained over 1.8 percent.
Many investors still preferred to trade small stock stocks instead of blue chips. Other notable gainers included Premiere Horizon, Abra Mining, Basic Energy and AbaCore which advanced by 14.78 percent, 11.67 percent, 7.56 percent and 5.83 percent, respectively. —Doris Dumlao-Abadilla