Share prices tumble anew on lack of fresh leads

MANILA, Philippines — Investors stayed cautious amid a lack of fresh leads, pulling down the local stock market to its second straight loss.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 0.57 percent, or 32.65 points, to settle at 5,660.55.

The broader All Shares index declined by 0.78 percent, or 24.86 points, closing at 3,175.76.

COL Financial Group research analyst Denise Joaquin said the local index closed lower as investors continued to digest individual third quarter corporate earnings and the announced results of the November MSCI rebalancing, which will remove Meralco from the MSCI Philippines Standard Index and downgrade PLDT to the Small Cap Index.

“PSEi tracked a broadly weaker region amid US Fed tightening fears and   dollar strength. Encouragingly, the 5,600-level support held amid elevated turnover, suggesting some buying interest at these levels,” AB Capital Securities said.

All sectors were in the red, with mining and oil taking the biggest hit, plunging  by 3.91 percent.

Decliners battered advancers, 131 to 41, while 62 issues did not change hands.

Total value turnover stood at P7.52 billion, higher than the previous day’s P6.08 billion.

ICTSI was the top traded stock, finishing unchanged at P780 per share. It was followed by Mynt, which climbed by 3.33 percent to P7.45, and Ayala, which slipped by 0.54 percent to P557.

AB Capital said Meralco and PLDT were down by about four percent and three percent, respectively, as investors pre-positioned ahead of their MSCI Standard Index deletions.

“The key test is whether the 5,580 major support still holds as we near the Nov. 27 MSCI rebalancing date. 5,700 remains near-term resistance,” it said.