Investors secure gains ahead of weekend

SHARE PRICES closed lower on Thursday after investors booked profits ahead of the long weekend, analysts said.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slipped by 1.47% or 40.71 points to 2,720.18, while the all shares index shed 1.2% or 21.34 points to 1,744.29.

A total of 3.58 billion shares worth P4.25 billion were traded. Net foreign buying totaled P332 million.

Decliners led advancers 71 to 32, while 55 shares did not move.

“The trading week is shorter so it was already expected that investors [would not be] as aggressive,” 2TradeAsia.com said.

“Investors were also checking for ’momentum progression’ that was absent during the past trading days.”

The online brokerage noted there wasn’t enough buying momentum that would have encouraged investors to enter the market. In the past five trading sessions, for instance, the market rose only once and the gain was not even significant.

The composite index managed to gain 29 points on Wednesday on bargain hunting but this failed to prevent the PSEi from sliding. The index lost 4.77% week-on-week.

Jun B. Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said investors also remain “sensitive” to market declines after experiencing a “big scare” last year when the market shed almost half of its value.

“[Yesterday] was also the first day of the ghost month. So traditional thinkers tried to avoid the market ahead of the long holiday, especially since Wall Street continues to be volatile,” he said.

Investors, Mr. Calaycay said, will monitor how the US market will do during the break before charting their next moves.

Wall Street closed higher on Wednesday after crude prices for September delivery jumped by 4.7% or $3.23 to close at $72.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. This was after the US government’s weekly inventory showed that crude oil supplies fell last week.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose by 0.66% or 61.22 points to 9,279.16 after investors scooped up oil-related firms on anticipation that demand for crude would rise.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 0.69% or 6.79 points to 996.46, while the Nasdaq composite index rallied by 0.68% or 13.32 points to 1,969.24.

At home, however, mining and oil stocks led the losers, retreating by 2.33% or 190.54 points to 7,985.75.

Industrial stocks fell by 2.26% or 91.30 points to 3,944.18, while the service sector slid by 1.25% or 17.76 points to 1,397.08.

The property sector tumbled by 1.23% or 12.03 points to 964.72, while holding companies shed 0.87% or 13.33 points to 1,518.44.

Financial firms lost 0.1% or 0.64 point to 592.84.

Manila Electric Co. shed 5.31% or P11 to P196, while Lopez-led holding company Benpres Holdings Corp. dropped 5.26% or 20 centavos to settle at P3.60.

Benpres unit First Philippine Holdings Corp. slipped by 3.52% or P1.50 to P41, while Andrew Tan-led property company Megaworld Corp. was down by 3.12% or four centavos to P1.24.

Philex Mining Corp. declined by 2.43% or 25 centavos to P10, while index heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. dipped by 1.63% or P40 to P2,405.

Ty-led Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. shed 1.33% or 50 centavos to P37, while Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. lost 1.14% or five centavos to P4.30.

Ayala Land, Inc. did not move at P9.70, while the Bank of the Philippine Islands stayed at P43.50.

Entry Credit: http://www.bworldonline.com