Stocks down on profit-taking

The local stocks index closed slightly lower Wednesday, reversing early session gains from window-dressing activities, as some investors chose to lock up profits ahead of the long weekend break.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index dipped by 2.16 points or 0.04 percent to close at 5,424.51. The index went up by 15.77 points before succumbing to profit-taking toward the end of the session.

For the shortened trading week, the index gained 19.35 points or 0.35 percent.

Value turnover on Wednesday amounted to P6.35 billion. Despite the overall index decline, there were 87 advancers that outnumbered 75 decliners in the market as investors shifted to smaller-cap stocks.

By counter, the financial, industrial, services and mining/oil sub-indices weighed down the PSEi while modest gains by holding firms and property counters curbed the overall decline.

The PSEi was dragged lower by profit-taking on URC (-4.13 percent), Meralco (-3.12 percent) and BPI (-2.76 percent) ahead of the long weekend. These stocks have performed strongly in the last few days. Globe, SMDC, Semirara, PLDT, BDO and Belle also contributed to the decline.  Doris C. Dumlao