Market drops for 6th straight session

MANILA, Philippines — Investors continued to play the waiting game yesterday, pulling the market down to its sixth consecutive day of losses.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index declined by 0.5 percent or 32.63 points to close at 6,469.08.

The broader All Shares index likewise slipped by 0.28 percent or 10.21 points to end at 3,700.

“The local market extended its decline to a sixth straight day as investors stayed on the cautious side while waiting for the outcomes, including the policy outlooks, of the meetings of the US Federal Reserve and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,” Philstocks Financial research manager Japhet Tantiangco said.

Tantiangco said the peso’s weakness also weighed on the day’s trading.

The local currency hit an intra-day low of 59 to $1 before recovering to close at 58.99. Trading volume hit $884.55 million yesterday from Tuesday’s $1.43 billion.

“Foreigners were still net sellers contributing to the market’s decline,” he said, noting that net foreign selling for the day stood at P487.26 million.

Trading thinned to P4.35 billion from the previous day’s P6.43 billion.

The financials and property indexes fell by 1.71 percent and 1.22 percent, respectively.

Industrial and services, meanwhile, grew by 0.67 percent and 0.62 percent, respectively.

Market breadth remained negative as decliners hammered advancers, 104 to 83, while 61 issues were unchanged.

Among the index members, Manila Electric Co. registered the largest gain at 4.13 percent, while BDO lost the most at 4.03 percent.