Stocks down on profit-taking

The local stock barometer retreated from near record highs yesterday as investors pocketed gains from blue chips after a five-day run-up.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gave up 35.55 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 4,483.36.

Because of the gains in the first four days of the week, however, the PSEi was still ahead by 111.4 points or 2.5 percent in the first trading week of 2012.

The decline was led by the services counter, which fell 1.7 percent due to the decline in telecom stocks PLDT and Globe Telecom. Only the mining/oil counter managed to stay in positive territory.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5 billion. There were 99 decliners as against 67 decliners while 32 stocks were unchanged.

The index was led lower by PLDT, AC, DMCI, Globe, ALI, SMIC, Meralco, Philex and Megaworld. First Holdings also ended lower in heavy volume.

Gains by AGI, Metrobank, SMC and ICTSI tempered the PSEi’s decline. Other stocks that traded favorably were Digitel, Lepanto, NiHao and Nickel Asia.

“There was profit-taking ahead of the weekend. Also, there’s expectation that US stocks may pull back in the next session,” said Joseph Roxas, president of local stock brokerage Eagle Equities.

Most stock markets in the region also traded lower as sentiment was dampened by renewed concern on the European banking system.

Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average was down slightly.

At the local market, investors reassessed gains as the index neared record highs. On Wednesday, the PSEi hit 4,518.91, benefiting from the so-called “January” effect, referring to the seasonally robust investor appetite at the start of every year. Doris C. Dumlao