PSEi pulls back

THE LOCAL stock barometer slipped for the second session in a row on Friday as the recent run-up to record-highs tempted investors to lock up some gains from large-cap stocks.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 33.82 points or 0.44 percent to close at 7,730.57. For the week, the index shed 94.82 points or about 1.2 percent.

The day’s decline was led by the financial and property counters which both slipped by over 1 percent. The holding firm and services counters were also sluggish.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. has said that US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s recent “dovish” remarks may be good for the short term but would only cause more market volatility.

One bright spot at the market was the industrial counter, which rose by 1.67 percent on the back of gains posted by Jollibee and URC. The mining and oil counter also fell.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.57 billion. There were 74 advancers which were overwhelmed by 92 decliners while 53 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down most by BDO and ALI which both slid by over 2 percent while SM Prime, SMIC, Metrobank, Bloomberry and AC all tumbled by over 1 percent. BPI and PLDT also contributed to the decline.

On the other hand, Jollibee rebounded by 3.7 percent while MPIC gained by 2.88 percent. URC, Megaworld, EDC and DMCI also firmed up.

The notable gainers among non-PSEi stocks were Lucio Co-led Puregold and Cosco, which both rose by over 1 percent. Unioil surged by 15.7 percent.

Local stock brokerage DA Market Securities said that despite posting record highs for 17 times this year, the PSEi’s upward momentum had notably slowed down since mid-February. The brokerage said it’s rife for investors to rotate their money to other stocks in search for more attractive values.

DA Market said that with the index treading in uncharted territory, next major resistance would be at 8,000 and 8,500 while initial major support would be at 7,485.

With technical indicators pointing to overbought levels, DA Market said the market was now indicating a “downward bias to possible consolidation/correction.”