Market falters as investors take profits

MANILA, Philippines – Local stocks faltered a day after President Duterte’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) as investors decided to pocket gains on the back of regional concerns.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell 24.59 points yesterday to end at 8,024.54, while the broader All Shares index dipped 0.61 percent or 29.12 points to close at 4,777.86.

The PSEi finished the morning session up 0.29 percent but spiraled downwards from there.

“Optimism on the President’s SONA caused an initial spurt but it failed to sustain the momentum on bit of profit taking,” AB Capital Securities analyst Alex Tiu said.

“The market lost steam following a more conservative outlook on the BOJ (Bank of Japan) fiscal stimulus which affected the regional market,” Tiu added.

As a result, local counters ended up mixed, with holding firms posting the largest decline of the day at 1.17 percent.

Joining holding firms in the red were mining/oil and property firms, dropping 0.82 percent and 0.33 percent, respectively.

Services firm, meanwhile, made the largest gain of 0.39 percent, followed by industrial companies with a 0.25-percent jump.

Market breadth was negative with decliners crushing advancers, 130 to 71, while 53 stocks were unchanged.

Value turnover slipped to P9.3 billion from the previous day’s P10 billion.