PSEi retreats on MSCI rebalancing

Share prices on the Philippine Stock Exchange retreated on Friday on the back of rebalancing of stocks in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Philippines index.

The benchmark PSEi shed 8.05 points or 0.10% t0 8,065.76 at the closing bell. The broader All Shares gained 1.03 points or 0.02% to 4,823.80.

"The PSEi declined due to the usual Friday profit taking and the news about the MSCI PH Index rebalancing wherein there is a decrease in the overall weight of Philippine shares of -.066%," Unicapital Securities equity analyst Christopher San Pedro said.

MSCI Philippines is an index designed to measure the performance of large and midcap segments of the Philippine market.

It covers 23 constituents, which represents about 85% of the Philippine equities market.

"The MSCI rebalancing implied that there would be a huge exodus of foreign investments with the deletion of AGI (Alliance Global) and DMC (DMCI Holdings)," Regina Capital head of sales Luis Limlingan said.

The net effect of the rebalancing points to a net foreign outflow for all shares, according to San Pedro.

Foreign funds bought P3.306 billion shares and sold P3.792 billion for a net selling position of P485.407 million.

More than 689.053 million shares valued at P6.833 billion, changed hands. Decliners led advancers, 100 to 70, and 66 issues were unchanged. — RSJ, GMA News