Speculators walk away amid dreary mood; PSEi down 1.22%

The local stock barometer faltered on Thursday as investors scrambled to pocket gains while foreign outflows escalated.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gave up 66.21 points or 1.22 percent to close at 5,342.31. Elsewhere in the region, trading sentiment was mixed.

Investors had taken profits after two days of gains, AAA Equities Christopher Mangun said.

“We have been seeing less vola­tility in the last few days of trading as speculators walk away. This is also evident in the decrease of daily trading volumes compared to what we saw last week and the week before,” he said.

Value turnover was thin at P4.4 billion, lower than the P6.7-billion average turnover seen since the start of the year. There was heavy foreign selling, which amounted to P1 billion.

Mangun said profit-taking could continue Friday, which could wipe out gains seen earlier in the week.

The PSEi was dragged down mostly by the financial and services counters, which both declined by over 3 percent.

The industrial and holding firm counters both tumbled by over 1 percent, while the mining/oil counter slipped by 0.27 percent.

Only the interest rate-sensitive property counter bucked the day’s downturn, instead advancing by 3.09 percent. This was mostly driven by the gains eked out by two of the country’s most valuable property firms, Ayala Land and SM Prime, which surged by 3.69 percent and 4.59 percent, respectively.

The PSEi was weighed down most by ICTSI and Robinsons Land, which both dropped by over 6 percent, while telco giant PLDT also declined by nearly 6 percent.

JG Summit and Metrobank both fell by over 5 percent, while BDO also dropped by nearly 5 percent.

Puregold lost over 4 percent, while Metro Pacific and Aboitiz Power both declined by over 3 percent.

The day’s most actively traded company, conglomerate Ayala Corp., fell by 2.81 percent.

BPI and Universal Robina Corp. both fell by over 2 percent, while Jollibee declined by over 1 percent.

One notable decliner was Dito, which fell by 1.25 percent in relatively heavy trade.