Index snaps 3-day upturn, ends lower

MANILA, Philippines — Share prices slightly pulled back yesterday as investors decided to take profits following three straight sessions of gains.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index or PSEi shaved off 3.38 points, or 0.04 percent, to close at 6,973.35. Likewise, the broader All Shares index slipped 1.08 points, or 0.02 percent, to end at 4,221.80.

“Local market fluctuated between gains and losses for the session before closing slightly lower on market-on-close selling. Net foreign selling persisted with P625 million, however excluding block sales, foreigners were net buyers with P562 million,” said AB Capital Securities in a commentary.

Total value turnover reached P10.711 billion. Market breadth, however, was positive with 111 advancers to 96 decliners, while 53 issues were unchanged.

Chris Mangun, head of research at AAA Southeast Equities, said the market mainly traded flat as gains in blue-chip banks offset minor losses in holding firms and other issues that rallied in the previous session.

“This shows that investors are allocating some liquidity for day-trading and are cycling through different sectors,” he said.

He noted however, that there is still no massive rush to offload shares as investors continue to believe valuations will climb.