Philippine stocks slightly dip on profit-taking

Photo from pse.com.ph

MANILA, Philippines—Share prices dropped on Thursday despite the gains posted earlier in the day. Investors pocketed profits following a rally fueled by merger talks between the country’s largest banks.

The main Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) on Thursday dropped 20.81 points, or 0.38 percent, to 5,513.37 points, despite gaining as much as 0.60 percent in early trade.

The index reached an intraday trading high of 5,579.18 points—the highest in the market’s history—before falling back in midday.

On Wednesday, the market closed at a record high for the 27th time.

The broader all-shares index also fell 0.68 percent as all subsectors, save for the service counter, ended the day in the red.

Mining and oil shares led the decline, losing 0.63 percent. Service shares were up 0.10 percent.

A day after news of a possible merger involving the Ayala group’s Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and the Philippine National Bank broke out, the latter’s shares fell 3.03 percent.

Shares of BPI, however, were up 1.75 percent. Trading of shares of both banks were suspended for a day at their own request as both announced talks for a possible merger to create what could possibly be the country’s leading lender.

The day’s 100 decliners outnumbered advancers more than two to one, while 59 issues were unchanged. Total volume reached 5.23 billion shares changing hands at P6.68 billion.