Share prices continue to dip

The stock index on Friday softened for the second straight session as fresh concerns on the US job market added to local profit-taking pressures.

But GT Capital Holdings of taipan George Ty bucked the downturn when it debuted in the stock market. Its shares surged by P492 from an initial public offering price of P455 a share.

It was the most actively traded stock for the day, with value turnover of P3.3 billion excluding some P6.55 billion worth of block transactions.

Still, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index dipped by 16.82 points, or 0.32 percent, to 5,156.46, after share prices rocketed past the 5,200-level in previous sessions.

Because of the gains made earlier this week, which allowed the index to reach new heights, the PSEi was still ahead by 1.17 percent week-on-week.

Trading was mixed across counters, with holding firms weighing down the index the most. The industrial and services counters were also in the red.

The financial, property and mining/oil counters firmed up.

Value turnover was high at P15.6 billion. There were 76 advancers against 87 decliners, while 44 stocks were unchanged.

The stocks that contributed to the day’s decline were Metrobank, Ayala Corp., URC, AGI, MPI and JG Summit.

On the other hand, the gains eked out by Megaworld, Belle, DMCI, BDO and BPI tempered the index losses. Doris C. Dumlao