Local stock index slips in profit-taking session

MANILA, Philippines—The main local stock market barometer pulled back from record highs on Friday as many investors pocketed gains from large-cap stocks.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gave up 34.28 points or 0.74 percent to finish at 4,613.83. But the main index was still a big winner for the week, having surged by a total of 130.47 points or 2.9 percent amid a breakout to all-time highs from Tuesday to Thursday.

The financial and mining/oil counters succumbed most to profit-taking, both declining by over 1 percent. The property sector, a laggard in 2011, was the only counter that bucked the day’s downturn.

Turnover amounted to P5.75 billion.

There were 61 advancers against 101 decliners, while 50 stocks were unchanged.

The stocks that weighed down the index the most were PLDT, AC, EDC, BDO, Megaworld, SMIC, Metrobank, DMCI, URC, BPI and Semirara.  Second-liners Lepanto A (open only to local investors) and B (open to all), Puregold and PNB also ended lower in heavy trade.

Index heavyweight PLDT, which aided the rise of the index to recent highs, fell by 1.36 percent to P2,756.

On the other hand, ALI, RLC and SM Prime were among the day’s advancers, keeping the property counter afloat.

SM Prime successfully completed a P5-billion fund-raising from the sale of debt notes to institutional investors.