PSE DOWN ON PROFIT-TAKING

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index declined on profit-taking in today's penultimate trading, with net foreign selling trimmed down considerably below P100 million in what market players say signify the positive sentiment prevailing as it closed 82.13 points or 1.14 percent down to 7,122.25 points.

There was market breadth as second liners had big uptakes in their trading as investors pursued better returns that the PSE affords against that of bank deposit or bond rates.

Value turnover reached P8.141 billion with 62 gainers, 175 losers and 34 shares unchanged with net foreign selling amounting to P96 million on foreign buys of P1.302 billion and foreign selling of P1.399 billion.

Dito was again the most active stock with trades of P1.375 billion, as it rose to a new high of P9.81, up by P1.11.

There was net foreign buying of P51 million on the issue together with Ayala Land, which had foreign buying of P61 million, but with its share price unchanged at P41.75. Foreign selling in Jollibee Foods of P15 million led to a decline of P4.20 to P193.30.

All sectors were down with the financials losing 1.99 percent, the biggest decline among the subsectors, as BDO Unibank went down by P2.30 to P104.50, and Bank of PI lost P1.35 to P81.05. Metrobank dropped to P49.40, a loss of P1.40.

Market bellwether SM Investments, hounded by a P115 million net foreign selling, lost P27 to close at P1,050; while SM Prime declined by 5 centavos to P38.60. Second liner Abra Mining was in the top 20 active stocks, gaining P0.0005 to P0.035, while another second liner, Apollo Global, posted a P0.023 rise to P0.125 on trades of P498 million.

Market darling MerryMart lost 13 centavos to P5.91, while PLDT posted a P10 decline to P1,340. MRC Allied lost 4 centavos to close at 57 centavos, while Ayala Corp declined by P20 to P813.

WEEKLY FEATURE

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