The bulls took a break after a six-day rally on Wednesday, bringing the main stock barometer below the 7,400 mark ahead of an upcoming MSCI rebalancing.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 65.99 points, or 0.89 percent, to close at 7,375.68.
All counters ended in the red as some investors took advantage of the PSEi’s recent run-up to a 21-month high to pocket some gains.
Others chose caution ahead of the closely watched MSCI rebalancing on Nov. 11, which may reduce the index weights for existing components if new names will be added to the basket.
“Philippine shares pulled back from their year-to-date high as investors locked in some gains ahead of the release [of] MSCI results later. Meanwhile, US stocks snapped their eight-day winning streak on Tuesday as investors took some profits after an October rally and awaited key inflation data ahead,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.
Value turnover stood at P11.157 billion. Despite the day’s pullback, there was net foreign buying of P517.29 million.
There were 116 decliners that outnumbered 77 advancers, while 56 stocks were unchanged.
LTG fell by 5.14 percent, while BPI lost 4.12 percent.
Converge and Jollibee both declined by over 1 percent, while ICTSI, Ayala Corp. and BDO all shed over 1 percent.
AC Energy, SM Prime, SM Investments and URC all slipped by less than 1 percent.
The day’s most actively traded company was Synergy, which tumbled by 98.82 percent as it resumed trading on the exchange following the P13.85-billion follow-on offering that boosted its public ownership back to a level compliant with listing rules. Trading on Synergy had been suspended since end-May.
Because the offering price was much lower than the last closing price, the PSE had lifted the 50-percent limit on the maximum daily decline.
Compared to Synergy’s offer price of P12 per share, however, its stock price rose by 5 percent to close at P12.60 per share.
On the other hand, PLDT gained 1.83 percent, while Metrobank added 0.38 percent.