PH shares tumble as Wall Street deals with losses

Philippine stocks followed Wall Street lower on Thursday while the benchmark index consolidated in the 7,000 level as foreign buying remained steady.

By the closing bell, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) sank 0.46 percent, or 32.85 points, to 7,062.01 while the broader All Shares index shed 0.16 percent, or 5.83 points, to 3,686.68.

Negative sentiments overseas weighed on domestic stocks after all major US indices pulled back, led by the more than 600-point plunge by the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Local stock exchange data showed 1.87 billion shares valued at P7.03 billion changed hands while foreign investors made a net purchase of P506.66 million, similar to the previous day’s buying activity.

Commodities outperformed on Thursday as the mining and oil subsector rose 1.59 percent.

Investors placed bets on mining stocks after Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said industry revenues could be used to bankroll the administration’s proposed sovereign wealth fund.

Services also gained 0.17 percent while financials (-1.03 percent), property (0.54 percent), industrial (-0.49 percent) and holding firms (0.05 percent) ended lower.

BDO Unibank Inc. was the top traded stock as it dropped 0.73 percent to P122.70.

It was followed by SM Investments Corp., down 0.37 percent to P930.50; Jollibee Foods Corp., down 0.8 percent to P248; International Container Terminal Services Inc., down 1.62 percent to P218; and Converge ICT Solutions Inc., up 0.11 percent to P19.02 per share.

Overall, there were 107 advancers against 83 losers while 53 companies closed unchanged, stock exchange data showed.

—Miguel R. Camus