The local stock barometer ended a three-day ascent on Thursday as investors pocketed gains ahead of a long weekend break.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell by 106.54 points, or 1.6 percent, to close at 6,545.17.
Still, the PSEi managed to preserve some of the gains eked out earlier in the week, ending at 102.08 points, or 1.58 percent higher than the previous week.
Investors took profit as another short week came to an end, cutting their exposure to risks after an upswing in the past three days, local stock brokerage Papa Securities said.
There will be no trading today, April 9, a national holiday in observance of Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor).
“[It’s] best to remember that overhangs do continue to persist for the index with high [albeit downtrending COVID-19 cases] the past few days, and a question mark on whether or not quarantine measures will be extended next week,” Papa Securities said.
All counters ended in the red, the most battered of which was the holding firm counter, which fell by 2.47 percent.
The property counter tumbled by 1.79 percent, while the financial, industrial, services and mining/oil counters slipped by less than 1 percent.
Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.01 billion. There was P811.97 million worth of net foreign selling that aggravated overall selling pressures.
110 decliners
Decliners edged out advancers, 110 to 89, while 54 stocks were unchanged.
Property giant SM Prime and SM Investments both declined by over 3 percent, while Metro Pacific lost 2.41 percent.
Ayala Corp. fell by 1.94 percent, while ICTSI lost 1.57 percent.
BDO, BPI, Puregold and Globe all lost less than 1 percent.
Outside the PSEi, notable decliners included Apollo Global, which fell by 4.11 percent.
Dito and Converge shed less than 1 percent.
On the other hand, URC added 1.43 percent while AGI firmed up by 0.53 percent.
Notable gainers outside the PSEi included LRW, which surged by 10 percent, while Greenergy gained 2.57 percent. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA