Select buying in blue chips help PHL shares narrow losses

Philippine shares narrowed losses at the close Wednesday, helped by last minute buying in select blue chip issues amid negative sentiments abroad due to weak China exports data.

 

The main PSEi closed down 18.84 points or 0.30 percent to 6,308.18, clawing out of the session's low of 6,244.29.

 

"There were a lot of foreign orders at the close. There was buying in some blue chips," Miguel Agarao, analyst at Wealth Securities Inc., told GMA News Online.

 

Top index gainers were Aboitiz Power Corp. which advanced by 2.74 percent while SM Investments Corporation added 2.63 percent, JG Summit Holdings Inc. increased by 2.48 percent and Bank of the Philippine Islands went up by 1.88 percent. 

 

Agarao said the decline early in the session was due to China's weak trade performance.

 

China reported exports fell 3.1 percent in June from a year earlier, while analysts expected a 4 percent increase in shipments from the world's second largest economy, Reuters reported. 

 

The broader all-shares index slid by 17.56 points or 0.45 percent to 3,858.65.

 

Only the holding firms among the sub-sectors was in the green, gaining 0.34 percent, and the rest were in negative territory.

 

Almost 644.74 million shares valued at P4.55 billion changed hands.

 

Losers outnumbered gainers 107 to 44 while 42 issues were unchanged.

 

"The local market's volume has been down for the past week. We've been doing 40 percent below the average. This shows that there is an absence of buyers in the market," Agarao said.

 

"The market is expected to move sideways until a new catalyst will emerge. This may come from improvements abroad, particularly in Japan, US and China, or surprising second quarter corporate earnings," he added. — VS, GMA News