Philippine stocks soar to all-time high before falling in profit taking

MANILA, Philippines—The local stock index skyrocketed to a new all-time high, nearing the 5,000-mark on strong foreign buying on Thursday, but profit taking dragged the barometer to a weak finish.

After setting a new intra-day high record at 4,997.04, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index faltered by over 100 points toward the end of trading. It closed at 4,893.48, 40.81 points, or 0.83 percent, lower than Wednesday’s close, weighed down mostly by the property counter, which fell by 2.92 percent.

Ayala Land, Inc. contributed heavily to the end-session decline as its share price fell by 4.56 percent to P19.80.  ALI has a 6.6 percent weight on the PSEi.

“ALI’s shares have gone rapidly so there was profit taking,” said Jose Mari Lacson, head of research at local stock brokerage Campos Lanuza & Co.

DMCI, PLDT, AGI, SM Investments, EDC, Cebu Air and MPIC also contributed to the PSEi’s weak closing.

The following non-index stocks also closed lower on Thursday: Philodrill, Petron, Puregold and Oriental Petroleum “A” (for local investors).

On the other hand, the PSEi’s losses were tempered by higher prices of Metrobank, Aboitiz Power and AEV.

The non-index stocks that defied the market’s weak finish in heavy volume were Union Bank, PNB, Dizon Copper and PSE.

By counter, the financial and holding firm counters stood resilient to profit taking. On the other hand, the industrial, services and mining/oil counters joined the property sub-index in a slump.

Turnover for the day amounted to P10 billion. There were 64 advancers against 115 decliners while 33 stocks were unchanged.

Earlier during the day, sentiment was upbeat due to strong inflows from foreign investors.  As the index neared the 5,000 mark, however, profit taking ensued.