PSEi slips as oil prices falter

THE LOCAL stock barometer slipped on Tuesday as regional markets were spooked by a decline in oil prices.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 35.3 points or 0.49 percent to close at 7,219.23. Across the region, stock markets were mostly sluggish as oil prices faltered.

At the local market, the decline was led by the property counter, which fell by 1.16 percent while the industrial, holding firm and mining/oil counters also faltered.

The financial and services counters slightly gained.

Total trade at the local market amounted to P5.78 billion. There were 124 decliners which overwhelmed 63 advancers while 42 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down most by ICTSI, which slumped by 2.58 percent while ALI, SM Prime, MPI and Megaworld all declined by over 1 percent.

BDO, SMIC, Metrobank and AC all declined.

Outside of the PSEi, there was profit-taking on NOW (-3.49 percent) and Security Bank (-0.23 percent) while IS slid by 11.94 percent.

On the other hand, Jollibee, PLDT, Globe, RLC and BPI bucked the day’s downturn, all gaining over 1 percent.

Other notable gainers outside the PSEi were Xurpas (+3.41 percent) and Puregold (+1.79 percent).