PSEi slumps near 7,000 as market secures previous gains
Philippine stocks were lower on Friday as investors pocketed recent profits ahead of the weekend amid a shaky outlook on the market.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) sank 1.61 percent, or 114.82 points, to 7,007.63 while the broader all-shares index lost 1.11 percent, or 41.92 points, to 3,718.04.
Even government data showing a drop in unemployment in January to 6.4 percent, or 2.93 million jobless, failed to lift the mood, with most PSE subsectors down, save for mining and oil’s 5.72-percent rally.
The previous day, think tank Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER) cut its 2022 growth forecast for the Philippines to 6.9 percent, citing high commodity prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Rapid increases in energy prices will negatively affect private consumption in Thailand and the Philippines, whose energy self-sufficiency ratios are low,” JCER said.
The financial subsector shed 2.54 percent as investors secured profits while industrial also declined 2.03 percent. Holding firms, property and services also moved lower by the closing bell.
A total of 1.65 billion shares valued at P27.58 billion changed hands mainly on a surge in foreign trading volume. Overseas sellers prevailed after slashing their holdings by a net amount of P3.04 billion.
A total of 100 companies declined while 81 advanced and 49 closed unchanged, PSE data showed.
SM Investments Corp. was the most actively traded on Friday as it slipped 0.39 percent to P902.50 per share.
It was followed by PLDT Inc., down 0.41 percent to P1,686; SM Prime Holdings Inc., up 1.44 percent to P38.65; AREIT Inc., up 1.09 percent to P46.25; and RL Commercial REIT Inc., up 0.28 percent to P7.18 per share.
