Philippine stocks fall ahead of weekend

MANILA, Philippines – Local stocks opened strongly but still ended slightly in the red on Friday as investors remained jittery over volatile US markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 4.76 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 4,219.58 as most investors lightened their position ahead of the weekend. The PSEi thus ended this week 78.04 points or 1.8 percent lower than the previous week.

“It’s a Friday and the market is fearful that the Dow Jones Industrial Average may fall again tonight [Friday night in Manila],” said Joseph Roxas, president of local stock brokerage Eagle Equities Inc.

Overnight, the Dow rebounded by 75.42 points or 0.63 percent to 12,124.36, ending a week-long slump, as Wall Street cheered a smaller US trade deficit. Asian markets opened modestly higher on Friday but in the case of the PSEi, early-session gains were reversed after the index failed to breach a resistance near 4,250.

Trading was mixed among counters. The financial, holding firms and mining/oil slightly declined while the industrial, property and services counters eked out modest gains. Based on index futures as of the local market’s closing, the DJIA could swing back to negative territory in the next session.

The local index was led higher by PLDT, AGI, Meralco, URC, SM Prime, BPI, Globe Telecom and JG Summit. San Miguel Corp. likewise rebounded from previous days’ profit-taking.

On the other hand, overall index gains were tempered by the decline of SM Investments, Metrobank, DMCI, Metro Pacific Investments, Aboitiz Power, FPH, RLC and Jollibee. Semirara Mining was also in the red.

Value turnover was still sluggish at P3.8 billion. Despite the overall index loss, there were 66 advancers that outnumbered 60 decliners while 39 stocks were unchanged.