PSEi hovers near break point as spotlight turns to inflation
MANILA -The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) consolidated below a key resistance zone as investors await the release of new inflation data on Thursday, Oct. 5.
By the closing bell on Wednesday, the PSEi slipped 0.12 percent, or 7.79 points, to 6,298.20, while the broader All Shares index was down 0.21 percent, or 7.06 points, to 3,398.56.
Jonathan Ravelas, senior adviser at Reyes Tacandong & Co., said the PSEi appeared to be trading with a sideways to downward bias, adding that recent hawkish comments by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Eli Remolona “should cap [the PSEi] at the 6,350 levels.”
Data from the stock exchange showed 733.61 million shares valued at P4.68 billion change hands while net foreign sales reached nearly P700 million.
Property stocks gained 0.81 percent while other subsectors slumped, led by mining and oil (-2.73 percent) and industrial (-042 percent).
READ: UnionBank out of PSE index effective Oct. 4; Nickel Asia in
The PSE also implemented changes to the PSEi composition on Wednesday following its latest off-cycle rebalancing that saw the addition of Nickel Asia Corp. and the removal of Union Bank of the Philippines.
Top traded stocks
SM Investments Corp. was the top-traded stock as it shed 0.06 percent to P826.50 per share.
It was followed by Universal Robina Corp., flat at P120; Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 0.92 percent to P110; Ayala Land Inc., down 1.71 percent to P28.70; and BDO Unibank Inc., down 0.71 percent to P140 per share.
Nickel Asia was down 4.48 percent to P6.19; Jollibee Foods Corp., down 1.67 percent to P223.20; SM Prime Holdings Inc., up 2.82 percent to P30.95; UnionBank, down 2.93 percent to P63.05; and Semirara Mining and Power Corp., down 3.37 percent to P34.54 per share.
Overall, there were 111 losers against 72 advancers, while 53 companies closed unchanged, data from the stock exchange showed.
