Listless trades to start week bring down PSEi

MANILA, Philippines — The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) took a breather yesterday, ending in the red but managed to pare losses at the end.

Traders said investors are waiting for new catalysts such as the fourth quarter and full-year 2018 economic growth as well as whether the government can contain the deficit numbers.

The main composite index was down 39.66 points, or 0.49 percent, to end at 8,007.46 while the broader All Shares gauge slipped 5.92 points, or 0.12 percent, to end at 4,799.

Likewise, most indices finished in the red, except for the property which managed to stay afloat.

Total value turnover, meanwhile, reached P5.667 billion. Market breadth was negative, 114 to 86 while 45 issues were unchanged.

“Initial weakness may have come from some profit taking as net foreign selling was present for most of the day. This only reversed to the minimal inflow of P52 million at the close after the aforementioned buy-up,” said Gio Perez of Papa Securities.

Concerns about the deficit are adding pressure to the peso, analysts said.

The national government’s budget deficit reached P39.1 billion in November as “strong” state spending outpaced a “moderate” increase in revenue generation, the Bureau of the Treasury reported last month.

The fiscal gap in November was 354 percent larger than the P8.6 billion deficit posted in the same month last year, the BTr said.

This brought the eleven month deficit to  P477.2 billion deficit, 96 percent higher than P243.5 billion shortfall registered in the comparable period in 2017 and equivalent to 91 percent of the P523.7 billion full-year cap for 2018.