Profit-taking drags PSEi below 6,300
Investors taking advantage of the local bourse’s recent gain dragged the market below 6,300 on Friday.
By the end of the session, the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) tumbled by 1.3 percent, or 82.66 points, to 6,296.20.
The broader All Shares Index likewise shed 0.65 percent, or 24 points, to close at 3,681.34.
A total of 1.14 billion shares worth P4.74 billion changed hands, stock exchange data showed, while foreign outflows totaled P1.12 billion.
Luis Limlingan, head of sales at stock brokerage house Regina Capital Development Corp., said the market’s decline was due mostly to traders pocketing gains after this week’s climb.
Banks recorded the steepest drop on declines in index heavyweights BDO Unibank Inc. (down 4.81 percent to P140.50) and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (down 1.05 percent to P70.55).
BDO was the top-traded stock, followed by International Container Terminal Services Inc., down 1.28 percent to P385.20; Converge ICT Solutions Inc., down 5.03 percent to P17; Metrobank; and AREIT Inc., up 0.12 percent to P40.10 each.
Other actively traded stocks were Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 0.4 percent to P124.50; Manila Water Co. Inc., up 2.03 percent to P27.70; SM Investments Corp., down 1.74 percent to P845; SM Prime Holdings Inc., down 1.65 percent to P23.85; and Jollibee Foods Corp., down 0.4 percent to P247.60 per share.
Losers edged out gainers, 95 to 86, while 59 companies ended flat.
