PHL stocks down 1.74% on depressing Wall Street sentiment 

Philippine shares dropped in moderately active trading Thursday, felled by negative sentiment from Wall Street.

 

A wave of selling near session’s close was cued by the move of foreign funds, prompting local investors to follow, said Freya Trinidad, F. Yap Securities Inc. head of research.

 

The situation reflected the “uncertainty” among market participants, Natividad noted. 

 

The main PSEi lost 88.76 points to close at 5,020.85.

 

More than 1.219 billion shares were traded during the morning and afternoon sessions. 

 

But the turnover value was recorded at P18.672 billion, including block sales in Universal Robina Corp. and Alaska Milk Corp. Without the block transactions, the value would have been around P5.2 billion, traders noted.

 

Decliners led advancers 105 to 53, with 33 issues unchanged.

 

“There was a sell down at the close… and Wall Street didn’t look nice overnight,” said research analyst Ghia Yuson of First Metro Securities Brokerage Corp. 

 

The negative sentiment was a confluence of losses posted by US stocks and the Moody’s downgrade of Spain’s financial sector, F. Yap’s Natividad noted. 

 

With the volume below year-to-date average of P6 billion… “so the tendency for the market is to go back to a lower note,” she added.

 

At 5,020, the PSEi is sitting at a major support level, both Natividad and First Metro Securities’ Yuson noted. — TJD, GMA News