PSEi starts week on sluggish note

The local stock barometer started the week on a sluggish note as investors continued to lock up gains after the market’s recent surge to new highs.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 36.54 points or 0.44 percent to close at 8,244.73 on Monday, tracking mostly sluggish stock markets elsewhere in the region.

Sentiment was mixed across counters, with the industrial, services and property counters all slipping by over 1 percent. The financial counter also faltered.

On the other hand, the holding firm and mining/oil counters both gained.

Value turnover stood at P6.76 billion. There was meager net foreign buying amounting to P8.82 million.

There were 156 decliners that overwhelmed 65 advancers while 36 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down most by EDC, which fell by 15.13 percent. A new investor group made a tender offer to minority shareholders but as total number of tendered shares exceeded the amount sought by the group, 15 percent of tendered shares will be returned.

ICTSI likewise declined by 2.46 percent while Ayala land and Semirara both fell by over 1 percent.

Shares of SM Prime, Ayala Corp., BPI, AGI, Metrobank, Megaworld and DMCI also fell.

Outside of the PSEi, FLI and IMI both fell by over 6 percent while Bloomberry slipped by 1.71 percent.

On the other hand, SMIC rose by 1.62 percent while BDO slightly gained.

RRHI also gained by 4.62 percent.

One notable gainer was PXP with its 27.87 percent rally, alongside Apex Mining which surged by 28.65 percent.

The day’s most actively traded stock was CIC, which firmed up by 0.23 percent.