US worries keep PSEI from 7,000

Philippine Stock Exchange, Bonifacio Global City. | INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

The local bourse again failed to hold the 7,000 level on Tuesday, with traders selling shares near the end of the session due to uncertainties in US markets.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) ended flat at 6,984.63, up by 0.01 percent, or 0.38 points.

Meanwhile, the broader All Shares Index added 0.22 percent, or 8.25 points, to close at 3,786.30.

A total of 776.85 million shares worth P7.26 billion changed hands as foreigners made net purchases worth P759.26 million, stock exchange data showed.

READ: Asian markets battle to match Wall Street rally ahead of US inflation

Although the PSEi traded above the 7,000 psychological resistance level within the session, it “succumbed to sharp market-on-close selling,” said Juan Paolo Colet, managing director at investment bank China Bank Capital Corp.

Colet said the local bourse may be able to finally close above 7,000 if there was a “reassuring” rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.

Rate cuts at the American central bank are often mirrored by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which has hinted of another possible 25-basis-point rate cut this year.

However, there were still “lingering uncertainties in the US economy,” according to Japhet Tantiangco, research manager at Philstocks Financial Inc.

US markets have recently been affected by weak employment data, reigniting recession fears abroad.

Back at home, gains at Sy family-led SM Prime Holdings Inc. allowed property firms to edge out other sectors with a 1.88-percent climb.

Meanwhile, banks posted the steepest decline at 1.7 percent as the country’s biggest banks went down, including top-traded stock BDO Unibank Inc., which closed lower by 2.82 percent to P155.

BDO was followed by International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 1.24 percent to P407; Ayala Land Inc., down 0.7 percent to P35.70; SM Investments Corp., down 1.3 percent to P908; and Universal Robina Corp., up 1.43 percent to P92 per share.

Other actively traded stocks were SM Prime, up 3.93 percent to P31.75; Bank of the Philippine Islands, down 0.8 percent to P124; Ayala Corp., flat at P612; Security Bank Corp., down 1.15 percent to P77.30; and Converge ICT Solutions Inc., up 5.31 percent to P16.26 each.

Gainers overpowered losers, 111 to 82, while 65 companies closed unchanged.