PSEi down as market goes prudent in another dull trade

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) closed lower on Thursday as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the long weekend.

The PSEi ended the session down 0.63 percent, or 37.82 points, to 5,928.45 while the broader all-shares index was lower by 0.23 percent, or 7.97 points, to 3,500.27.

Chris Mangun, research head at stockbrokerage firm AAA Equities, said in a research note the PSEi shed 1.25 percent for the week.

“This is its smallest weekly loss in the last four weeks of trading, which tells us that selling pressure is waning and buyers can start coming back into the market with less resistance,” Mangun said.

Subindices were mixed, with mining and oil leading gains, followed by services and industrial companies. Financials dropped the most at 1.43 percent while holding firms and the property subsector closed in negative territory.

A total of 1.33 billion shares valued at P5.1 billion changed hands on Thursday. Mangun said the volume indicated “investors are still not confident and are extremely cautious as the business environment remains uncertain.”

SM Investments Corp. was the most actively traded on Thursday as it lost 1.11 percent to P890 per share.

It was followed by Emperador Inc., unchanged at P9.10; Globe Telecom, up 2.18 percent to P2,064; Bank of the Philippine Islands, down 1.16 percent to P68.20; and PLDT Inc., up 1.82 percent to P1,340 per share.