PSEi ends slightly lower

The local stock barometer ended flat Friday, failing to ride on a regional upswing inspired by the Bank of England’s better-than-expected monetary easing.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 8.22 points or 0.1 percent to close at 7,970.35 as investors digested the latest stream of second-quarter corporate earnings.

The PSEi was led lower by the financial, holding firm, services and mining/oil counters. On the other hand, the interest rate-sensitive property counter gained 1.07 percent. The industrial counter slightly increased.

Value turnover for the day was relatively thin at P6.57 billion.

Despite the PSEi’s decline,

market breadth was positive. There were 102 advancers, which edged out 84 decliners, suggesting that investors were still looking for buying opportunities outside of pricey large-cap stocks.

SM Prime and Megaworld led the PSEi higher, both gaining more than 2 percent, while GT Capital, Ayala Corp. and BDO all firmed up.

Investors bought shares of non-PSEi stocks like Max’s Group (+7.93 percent), D&L Industries and Vitarich Corp. (both up more than 5 percent), Cemex (+2.5 percent) and Cirtek (+0.22 percent), which all advanced in heavy volume.

On the other hand, Metrobank and Jollibee fell by more than 1.9 percent while URC, Globe, PLDT, ALI, AEV and MPI all slipped.

Elsewhere in the region, stock markets were mostly higher in reaction to the Bank of England’s bigger-than-expected monetary easing. The UK central bank cut rates by 25 basis points, increased asset purchases by 70 billion British pounds and created a 100-billion-British pound cheap funding facility for banks. The Bank of England chief also suggested room for further easing down the road. “This continues to support market expectations of further easing from developed market central banks,” Citigroup said in a research note. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla