Philippine stocks decline slightly in last-minute selling

Photo taken from pse.com.ph

MANILA, Philippines—The local stocks index ended slightly lower on Thursday, giving up modest gains earlier in the session, but kept afloat a key support level at 5,150.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index dipped by 0.7 point, or 0.01 percent, to 5,150.11, weighed down by some last-minute selling.

The index was weighed down by the services and property counters. The rest of the sub-indices ended modestly higher.

Total value turnover was still thin at P3.91 billion. The 76 advancers were edged out by 68 decliners while 44 stocks were unchanged.

The index stocks that contributed most to the day’s decline was PLDT, which declined by 0.88 percent. Metrobank, AC, ALI, Globe and BPI also contributed to the PSEi’s dip.

On the other hand, the PSEi’s decline was cushioned by the gains of AGI (+1.33 percent), Cebu Air (+1.69 percent) and BDO (+1.18 percent).

AP, URC, RLC, SMIC, SM Prime and Megaworld also contributed to the day’s gains.

Across the region, most markets drifted higher ahead of a crucial European Central Bank on Thursday. There were reports that the ECB was likely to announce an unlimited sterilized bond buying program. Based on these leaked reports, the program may be called “Monetary Outright Transactions, whereby the ECB would not cap yields.