Index retracts on last-minute profit taking

MANILA, Philippines — Last-minute profit taking yesterday pulled down the market ahead of the Independence Day holiday today, traders said.

Thus, the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 14.41 points or 0.17 percent to end at 8,030.98.

Likewise, the broader All Shares index went down 4.63 points or 0.09 percent to close at 4,907.68.

Majority of the indexes also declined, except for industrial and services.

Total value turnover reached P7.778 billion and despite the late pullback, market breadth was positive with 107 advancers to 95 decliners.

Forty issues were left unchanged.

“The market was largely disappointed at the close after the index was sold down at the end to close 14.41 points down at 8,030.98, after trading in the green the entire day,” said Gabriel Jose Perez of Papa Securities.

The selling at the end, he added, may have been due some anticipation ahead of the holiday break. Nevertheless, resistance still remains at the recent high of 8,139 for the PSEi.

Philstocks Financials said for most of the day, the market traded upwards as it took the cue from Wall Street’s rally Tuesday night.

Wall Street rallied for a sixth consecutive session after US President Donald Trump dropped his threat to impose five percent tariffs on Mexican goods.

This was after Mexico agreed to boost efforts to restrict the flow of illegal Central American migrants across the southern US border.