Telecom stocks drag PSEi

THE LOCAL stock barometer slipped on Friday, led by telecom stocks, as a stock market rout in Japan weighed down regional markets.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 17.17 points or 0.24 percent to close at 7,245.13. For the week, the index declined by a total of 114.92 points or 1.6 percent.

The day’s drop was led by the services counter which slumped by 2.01 percent while the mining/oil counter also fell by 1.33 percent. The industrial and holding firm counters also slipped.

On the other hand, the cyclical financial and property counters both eked out modest gains.

Total value turnover for the day amounted to P5.78 billion. There were 104 decliners that edged out 91 advancers while 46 stocks were unchanged.

Across the region, risk appetite was soured by a selldown on Japanese stocks, in turn due to a gloomy Japanese factory gauge. A decline in oil prices also contributed to the downcast sentiment. The stock index in Shanghai, however, modestly gained as China’s latest factory gauge beat expectations.

At the local market, telecom stocks led the PSEi lower. Globe slipped by 5.77 percent while PLDT fell by 3.03 percent. A stock market dealer said investors keen on defensive plays seemed to be paring interest in telecom stocks in favor of power companies. The dealer said investors seemed to be rethinking growth prospects in local telecom.

JG Summit and MPI both fell by over 1 percent. JG Summit is a strategic investor in Globe while MPI is owned by the same group that controls PLDT.

BDO and GTCAP also slipped.

On the other hand, BPI and SMIC both rose by over 1 percent alongside Lopez-led power firm FGEN which gained 1.58 percent.

URC, Metrobank, SM Prime, AC and ALI all gained.

Outside of PSEi stocks, notable gainers included Now Corp. (+17.27 percent), FLI (+3.39 percent) and RCBC (+0.83 percent).

It was recently reported that Now was in talks with two local investment banks to raise $50 million over the next two years to fund its shift to the corporate broadband market.

RCBC, on the other hand, was rebounding after the heavy beating from being the gateway to a $81-million money laundering incident. Dealers said this could be due to the covering of short positions.