Profit taking, foreign selling send stocks down anew

MANILA, Philippines — The stock market declined yesterday on profit taking and foreign selling, sending the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index down by 23.47 points, or 0.29 percent, to finish at 7,944.43.

Likewise, the broader All Shares index was down 5.03 points, or 0.10 percent, to end at 4,799.79.

Most sectors ended in negative territory except for the holding firms and the mining and oil gauges.

Total value turnover reached P6.7 billion. Market breadth was negative, 96 to 93 while 50 issues were unchanged.

Gabriel Jose Perez of Papa Securities said the index once again failed to share positive sentiment from US markets Wednesday night as well as the latest trade war development earlier when US President Donald Trump said he would delay the tariff increase on Chinese goods.

Decliners included ICTSI, which lost 2.2 percent and Jollibee Foods Corp., down 1.7 percent and First Gen Corp. down 1.5 percent.

On the other hand, Aboitiz Power, LT Group and Megaworld were among the biggest gainers, rising 2.5 percent, 2.4 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

Perez said the index might continue to end on a flat note for the last day of the week, especially since we’ve already seen how muted the PSEi’s reaction to US market movement is already.

Continued net foreign selling could also weigh down the index, he said.

He said investors would continue to look for catalysts that would entice them to return to the market.