PH INDEX FALLS BELOW 8,500; INVESTORS PULL BACK

The local stock barometer fell below 8,500 on Friday, tracking the slump in overseas markets.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 86.34 points or 1.01 percent to close at 8,433.48 as investors trimmed holdings after the recent run-up.

“Philippine and US stocks lost ground, pulling back from all-time highs as investors expressed concern over a report that tax legislation due to be unveiled by Senate Republicans would delay a corporate tax cut until 2019,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

“Locally however, many were selling ahead of the Asean summit due to the long holidays and with some investors wanting to see the output of their meetings. In addition, European stocks logged their biggest daily loss in more than four months as an early selloff gathered pace with the US market open,” he added.

The index was weighed down most by the property counter, which slipped by 2.03 percent while the holding firm counter fell by 1.09 percent.

The industrial, services and mining/oil counters also eased.

Only the financial counter eked out a modest gain.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.53 billion.

There were 134 decliners that edged out 73 advancers while 44 stocks were unchanged.

Investors sold down shares of SM Prime, which fell by 3.56 percent, while Ayala Land, Metro Pacific, Ayala Corp. and AGI all lost over 1 percent.

Semirara, URC, GT Capital, Meralco, Metrobank, Jollibee and ICTSI also declined.

One notable decliner among non-PSEi stocks is MacroAsia, which fell by 6.69 percent.

Meanwhile, BDO gained 1.79 percent.

Outside the PSEi, Italpinas continued to rise by 25.9 percent.

Bloomberry added 0.74 percent, while IMI rose by 2.29 percent, in heavy trade.