Weaker peso, somber Wall Street stop PSEi rally

Investors took profits after a two-day rally, causing the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) to drop on Tuesday, but it remained on the 7,500 level.

The benchmark index dropped by 0.23 percent, or 17.43 points, to settle at 7,537.25 while the broader All-Shares index fell by 0.14 percent, or 5.56 points, to close at 4,077.41.

Philstocks Financial Inc. senior analyst Japhet Tantiangco noted that “negative cues from Wall Street driven by the rise in treasury yields and the weakening of the local currency also weighed on the bourse.”

All subsectors were in the red, except for financials and services indices which rose by 0.72 percent and 0.86 percent, respectively.

Over 1.21 billion shares valued at P7.39 billion were traded. Advancers led decliners, 109-97, while 54 issues were unchanged.

The most actively traded shares were SM Prime Holdings, dropping by 1.82 percent to P32.40 each.

This was followed by BDO Unibank Inc., up 1 percent to P161.60; International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 2.1 percent to P438; Ayala Land Inc., down 4.84 percent to P36.40; SM Investments Corp., down 0.2 percent to P998; and Ayala Corp., down 0.41 percent to P737.

Other active names were Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 0.42 percent to P143; Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., up 1.14 percent to P80; DigiPlus Interactive Corp., up 3.79 percent to P21.90; and Manila Electric Co., up 2.95 percent to P489. —Tyrone Jasper C. Piad