Stocks end slightly lower

The local stock market on Friday closed a tad lower for the second session after climbing close to record highs in intra-day trade as investors consolidated recent gains amid lackluster regional markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 3.58 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 5,432.36.  But despite the dips in the last two days, the index was still up 62.64 points or 1.17 percent week-on-week.

The market was weighed down most by the property counter (-0.9 percent) while the financial, services and min-

ing/oil counters also ended in the red. The industrial and holding firm sub-indices posted modest gains.

Value turnover amounted to P6.49 billion. Despite the overall index dip, advancers narrowly edged out decliners, 82-80, as investors focused more on trading opportunities in non-index stocks.

Dragging the PSEi lower for the day were PLDT (-0.3 percent), ALI (-1.07 percent), SM Prime (-1.08 percent), Megaworld (-1.2 percent), EDC (-0.32 percent).  BDO (-2.92 percent) and JG Summit (-2.08 percent) posted the steepest decline but volumes were not big enough to make it to the top 20 most actively traded stocks.

Manny Cruz, chief strategist at AsiaSec Equities, said interest in large-cap stocks was being tempered by uncertainties from the recent Supreme Court ruling on PLDT’s foreign ownership.

The PSEi’s decline was tempered by the gains of SM (+0.86 percent), AGI (+0.66 percent), AC (+0.23 percent), MWC (+1.23 percent), Globe Telecom (+1.67 percent) and Metrobank (+0.6 percent).  URC (+2.7 percent) was the biggest gainer among PSEi stocks. Doris C. Dumlao