PSEi slips below 6,500 on risk aversion

MANILA -The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slid below the 6,500 level on Wednesday as risk aversion weighed on domestic stocks ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later in the day.

The PSEi closed the session down 1.12 percent, or 73.20 points, to 6,434.06 while the broader All Shares index slipped 0.87 percent, or 30.21 points, to 3,437.04.

Major Wall Street indices closed higher overnight after new US inflation data showed prices cooling further in May.

“Following the report, traders increased their bets that the Fed will keep rates unchanged on Wednesday after hiking at 10 consecutive meetings,” Luis Gerardo Limlingan, head of sales at stock brokerage house Regina Capital Development, said in a note to investors on Wednesday.

A total of 1.2 billion shares valued at P11.45 billion changed hands while foreigners were net sellers to the tune of P533.22 million, data from the stock exchange showed.

Over half of the daily volume came from cross sales in Gokongwei family-led firms JG Summit Holdings and Robinsons Retail via a stock brokerage house associated with their principal shareholders, Juan Paolo Colet, managing director at investment bank China Bank Capital Corp., said in a note to investors.

Services (-2.04 percent) was the top underperforming PSE subsector, followed by property (-1.59 percent), holding firms (-1.27 percent), mining and oil (-1.13 percent) and financials (-0.55 percent). Industrial stocks were up 0.003 percent.

JG Summit was the most actively traded stock as it rose 1.06 percent to P47.50 each.

It was followed by Robinsons Retail, down 0.49 percent to P51.15; Ayala Land Inc., down 4 percent to P24; SM Investments Corp., down 1.73 percent to P910; and BDO Unibank Inc., up 0.64 percent to P140.50 per share.