The local stock barometer slipped below the 6,800 mark on Wednesday ahead of a holiday break to commemorate the Edsa revolution.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 58.72 points, or 0.86 percent, to close at 6,755.95, tracking mostly sluggish regional markets.
With the PSEi set to take a pause for Thursday’s holiday, a muted trading was expected with near-term catalysts still looking sour for the overall market, local stock brokerage Papa Securities said.
Papa Securities noted a slew of concerns for the index: the Philippines’ not shifting to a more relaxed quarantine protocol this March; overhang from the February inflation announcement next week, and, a weakening peso that’s likely to intensify foreign selling pressure.
“We still prefer to keep our eye on the index’s major support at the 6,600 level of its recent low as a breakdown below this with enough strength points to the 6,170 levels as the next major support,” the brokerage said.
All counters ended lower, especially the mining/oil counter, which lost 3 percent.
The industrial and holding firm counters both declined by over 1 percent, while the financial, services and property counters all slipped by less than 1 percent.
Value turnover for the day was heavy at P14.7 billion. Net foreign selling amounted to P652.86 million.
There were 174 decliners that outnumbered 58 advancers, while 37 companies were unchanged.