PSE Index Declines

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index declined today on selling pressure - although it rose at opening went down before nosing up again on bargain hunting as blue chips scoured new lows to close at 6,547.27 points, down slightly by 37.94 points or 0.58 percent.

Photo Insert: The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, August 5, 2021

Value turnover remained low at P4.76 billion with foreign investors opting to wait out the effect of the government response against the Delta variant of the COVID-19. There were 80 gainers against 108 losers with 34 shares unchanged.

Only the services and the industrials survived the downward spiral, rising by 0.65 percent and 0.46 percent, respectively while the property sub-indices suffered the most, losing a hefty 2.63 percent as property stocks Ayala Land dropped by 80 centavos to 32.50, SM Prime by P1.10 to P32.95, and Megaworld by 9 centavos to P2.71.

The financials lost 0.51 percent, holding firms, by 0.22 percent, and mining and oil by 0.55 percent.

The gainers included ICTSI and Ayala Energy, which topped the most active stocks with P608 million and P534 million as they gained P1.20 to P177 and 26 centavos to P8.74, respectively.

The other gainers in the top 20 most active stocks were telcos PLDT and Globe, which respectively closed higher at P1,274, up by P25 and P1,936, up by P56.

Market bellwether SM Investments lost P1 to close at P963, while JG Summit was unchanged at P59.90, and Ayala Corp declined by P10 to P740. LT Group also went doown by 19 centavos to P9.74 and Aboitiz Power lost 40 centavos to P23.

Diversified Securities' Jose Ricardo Garcia said that there was a noticeable absence of foreign investors as the uncertainty over the pandemic unnerved them.

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