Philippine stocks retreat as investors pocket gains

Photo from pse.com.ph

MANILA, Philippines—The local stocks pulled back for the second session on Thursday as rich valuations lured investors into pocketing gains.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 31.84 points, or 0.55 percent, to close at 5,787.95, pulling back after hitting a new intraday peak of 5,866.83.

Value turnover amounted to P7.4 billion. Despite the overall index decline, there were 80 advancers that slightly edged out 78 decliners while 48 stocks were unchanged.

Investors sold shares of large cap stocks like Ayala Corp., PLDT, SMIC, BDO, Metrobank, ALI, EDC, URC, SM Prime, MPI and ICTSI.

BPI was among the index stocks that bucked the downswing alongside Megaworld, JG Summit and DMCI.

BPI (+1.1 percent) announced late Wednesday the appointment of a new president, investment banker Cezar Consing effective April next year. The bank also continues to be in the thick of discussions with the Lucio Tan group on a prospective takeover of Philippine National Bank.

JG Summit (+1.54 percent) announced late Wednesday the signing of a basic deal with the Okada group that would allow its property arm Robinsons Land Corp. to acquire a minority stake in the group’s local gaming operations and a majority stake in the property development component.

The non-index stocks that posted gains were newly listed D&L (+1.83 percent) and Atlas (+5.89 percent). Atlas’ flagship unit recently declared P1 billion in cash dividends.