Stocks fall as investors take profits

MANILA, Philippines — Share prices halted a six-day runup to close lower yesterday as investors cashed in from the market’s recent gains.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell 22.11 points or 0.30 percent to finish lower at 7,289.61, while the broader All Shares index slipped 12.22 points or 0.27 percent to end at 4,462.70.

“The market took a breather after six sessions of gains. Trade volume was thin with only P4.79 billion worth of shares changing hands, as the local index tracked the dip in global markets,” AB Capital Securities said in a market commentary.

The sectoral gauges, meanwhile, were a mixed bag with most of the sectors finishing in negative territory. Industrial and mining and oil had the biggest declines while financials and services ended in positive territory.

Market breadth was negative with 105 decliners to 82 advancers, while 57 issues were unchanged.

“Investors took profits on the last trading day of the week to avoid uncertainties over the weekend, failing to break the resistance around the 7,300 levels,” PhilStocks Financial research analyst Claire Alviar said.

She added that yesterday’s low value turnover showed weak conviction among market investors.

“Net market value turnover was at P4.79 billion, lower than October’s average of P8.97 billion, showing weak conviction,” Alviar said.

Meanwhile, Asian shares were mixed yesterday after a late-in-the-day wave of buying pushed the S&P 500 to a fresh record high.