Philippine shares extends losing streak for third straight day

Share prices on the Philippine Stock Exchange extended its downtrend for the third straight session on Thursday as concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

The bellwether PSEi shed 11.77 points or 0.17% to 6,851.84 at the closing bell. The broader All Shares lost 22.98 points or 0.56% to 4,108.34.

“Bargain hunting was seen in Thursday’s trading, bringing the PSEi to as high as 6,918.30 intraday,” Philstocks Financial senior equity analyst Japhet Tantiangco said.

“However, selling pressures eventually took over backed by worries over the country’s COVID-19 situation and how it may slow down or delay our economic recovery,” he added.

For his part, Unicapital Securities equity analyst Christopher San Pedro said that the fourth quarter and full-year 2020 gross domestic product (GDP) print was already priced in by investors.

“The market is currently on a range with a downtrend bias between 6,740 support and 7,000 resistance,” San Pedro said.

Foreign funds bought P1.205 billion shares and sold P2.518 billion for a net selling position of P1.313 billion.

“The market’s net foreign outflows has already been running on a 10-day streak averaging P874.56 million per day,” Tantiangco said.

More than 56.2 billion shares valued at P8.8 billion, changed hands. Decliners led advancers, 136 to 73, and 53 issues were unchanged.— LDF, GMA News