PSEi slips below 5,200, dragged by mining, property

MANILA, Philippines—Local stocks dipped below 5,200 on Monday, weighed down by mining and property indices.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 10.51 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 5,190.81 even as regional stock markets were relatively ahead of an upcoming US Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

The mining/oil (-1.22 percent) and property (-1.1 percent) counters dragged down the index.

In the case of mining, Philex slumped by another 8.14 percent as the market braced for the impact of a potential shutdown in the operations of its Padcal mine in Benguet for the rest of the year.

Megaworld, AC, BDO, BPI and EDC also contributed to the day’s decline.

On the other hand, the PSEi’s decline was tempered by the gains of AGI, SMIC, PLDT, AP, Petron, Metrobank, MPI and JG Summit.

Petron, which rejoined the PSEi effective Monday, rose by 2.35 percent while Cebu Air, which was dislodged by Petron in the main roster, declined by 1.09 percent.

Investors also turned to stocks outside the roster of blue chips for trading opportunities. The most actively traded stock for the day was Philippine Seven, which gained by 2.94 percent on recurring rumors of potential investment buy-in deal.

Security Bank and East West Bank likewise traded briskly, respectively rising by 3.12 percent and 3.71 percent.

Value turnover for the day improved to P6.8 billion as the market entered its last trading week in the so-called “ghost month” period in the lunar calendar.

There were 70 advancers versus 73 decliners while 49 stocks were unchanged.

Across the region, regional markets were mostly steady ahead of a crucial US Federal Open Market Committee meeting later this week. Given the disappointing latest US jobs data, markets are increasingly betting on another round of bond buying to infuse additional liquidity without cutting interest rates, which are already at near-zero levels. This may be the third round of the US Fed’s quantitative easing.