RP stock index breaks three-day rise

Local share prices on Thursday broke three straight sessions of gains after investors took profits ahead of another long weekend. The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 0.44 percent or 14.25 points to 3,256.12, with only two of the six subindices advancing. Trading was brisk, with 978.79 million stocks worth P5.15 billion changing hands. Markets will be closed on Friday as the country celebrates National Heroes’ Day. “We have been waiting for this correction ever since the market broke the 3,130 resistance level. Trading has been at overbought levels for quite some time. I believe it’s reasonable for investors to book their profits this time," analyst Justino B. Calaycay Jr. of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said in an interview. “The Dow was down yesterday, so we took that as a cue to correct. Of course there was no telling motive, but it gave us the go-signal," he added. The local composite index mirrored the overnight decline on Wall Street, which also snapped a two-month streak of gains following concerns that shares were overheated and after a drop in consumer loans and sliding oil prices. The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted by 72.47 points, while the NASDAQ composite and Standard & Poor’s 500 index slid by 5.65 and 6.99 points, respectively. Other international markets also posted losses. Analysts, however, remained optimistic of a strong market performance in the coming months. “We expect better weeks next month. The market may move sideways leading to the elections, but the general bias is still positive," Calaycay said. On the local front, losers beat gainers 54 to 37, while 79 stocks were unchanged. The broader all-share index slid by 0.27 percent or 5.56 points to finish at 2,019.58 Industrial stocks lost 0.68 percent or 34.05 points to 4954.88, while services shed 0.61 percent or 9.13 points to 1485.2. Holding firms, meanwhile, lost 0.53 percent or 11.01 points to 2050.64, while property stocks closed 0.4 percent or 4.77 points lower at 1197.96. Mining and oil stocks bucked the trend, adding 0.63 percent or 59.52 points to 9566.35, while the financial index gained 0.37 percent or 2.6 points to close at 2019.58. Ionics, Inc., the day’s top gainer, added more than a tenth to P1.08, while Vitarich Corp., the day’s biggest loser, shed 11 percent to close at 37 centavos. Semirara Mining Corp., the most traded stock, lost a peso to P67. Metrobank and Bank of the Philippine Islands were steady at P50.50 and P45.50, respectively, while SM Investments Corp. added P5 to P392.50. Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. shed P10 to P2,490. — Nikka A. Corsino/NPA, GMANews.TV