Equities end hot streak following PSEi tweaks

MANILA  -The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) tumbled on Friday, partly due to heavy selling at Union Bank of the Philippines and Bloomberry Resorts Corp., ending the benchmark index’s six-day winning streak.

By the closing bell, the PSEi shed 1.01 percent, or 64.28 points, to 6,321.24 while the broader All Shares index was down 0.54 percent, or 18.38 points, to 3,400.83.

“News-driven selling in [UnionBank] and [Bloomberry] contributed to the slide,” Juan Paolo Colet, managing director at investment bank China Bank Capital Corp., said in a note to investors on Friday.

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The PSE announced the previous day that UnionBank no longer complied with the public float requirement for index inclusion after it reclassified the treatment of shares held by state pension fund Social Security System.

Bloomberry, which was included in the index this week, also fell lower after its shares were sold by tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. to outside investors at a 7-percent discount from the previous day’s closing price.

Meanwhile, a total of 1.71 billion shares valued at P13.2 billion changed hands, including the P5.6-billion block sale of Bloomberry shares.

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Foreigners were net buyers to the tune of P5.49 billion, data from the stock exchange showed.

Mining and oil rose 2.54 percent, ending as the sole gainer for the session. Losers were led by services and industrial, down 1.69 percent and 1.36 percent, respectively.

BDO Unibank Inc. was the top traded stock as it rose 0.35 percent to P141.90 per share.