PSEi down ahead of four-day weekend

Market players on Friday decided to cash in on gains, ahead of a four-day weekend.   The main PSEi closed down 12.7 points or 0.24 percent to 5,206.81.   Over 1.4 billion shares were traded valued at P5.043 billion.   Still, winners led losers 77 to 68 with 40 issues unchanged.   “[The market] opened positive but lost buying support mid-morning as investors opted to cash out ahead of the weekend,” research analyst Katrina Pecson of RCBC Securities Inc. told GMA News Online.   The market is close on Monday, Aug. 20, for the Muslim Eid’l-Fitr marking the end of Ramadan, and on Tuesday, Aug. 21, for the death anniversary of democracy icon Benigno Aquino Jr. – President Benigno Aquino III’s father.     Pecson noted the market remains uncertain this August with many fund managers on vacation. — VS, GMA News