PSE LISTLESS ANEW

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) was again listless today with the index again in a decline although muted on account of the continuing uncertainty in the US inaugurals set today with the services sector clawing back its gains to soften the loss to just 55.15 points or 0.77 percent to 7,143.30 points.

The services sub-sector was the only gainer as it rose by 1.34 percent to serve as a buffer for the losses incurred by financials, down 0.79 percent, industrials, 1.07 percent; holding firms, 1.21 percent,, mining and oil, 2.19 percent; and property, down 0.80 percent, with another hefty value turnover of P13.1 billion - with 91 shares posting gains, 137 losses and 40 shares unchanged.

Among the issues that were unchanged were BDO Unibank at P111 and SM Prime at P39, as the second liners again dominated the most active stocks list, spearheaded by Apollo Global, which had P1.5 billion in trades as it rose by 17.81 percent or P0.065 to P0.43.

It was followed by Abra Mining, which had trades of P789.6 million, as it dropped by 22.73 percent or P0.0025 to P0.0085. Abacore had trades of P749 million as it gained 3 centavos to P1.38, while Basic Energy closed 8 centavos higher to P1.69 on trades of P688 million.

The fifth most active stock was MRC Allied, which declined by 6 centavos to P0.82, while Dito CME lost 40 centavos to P10.94.

Market bellwether SM Investments declined by P5 to P1,067, while Ayala Land, with P49 million in net foreign selling, lost 80 centavos to P38.85.

Oil exploration firms Oriental Petroleum and Philodrill were down by P0.009 to P0.021 and P0.004 to P0.024, respectively.

Universal Robina, with foreign selling of P142 million, lost P2 to P151.

Net foreign selling amounted to P688 million on foreign selling of P3.031 billion and foreign buying of P2.343 billion. Among the shares that had net foreign buyers were ICTSI, which rose by P1.60 to P128.40, and Ayala Energy, which rose by 11 centavos to P6.70.

Ayala Corp. with P242 million in net foreign selling , dropped by P31 to P795, a decline of 3.75 percent.

WEEKLY FEATURE : JOSE MARI CHAN AND THE CHRISTMAS ANTHEM