STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK Last week

Share prices fell last week as investors were already in a holiday mood and took a break from trading.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEI) fell 68.42 points to close at 7,204.38 points.

The main index was down in two of the three-day trading week, and gained merely 1.99 points on Wednesday.

Investors are monitoring developments related to the Covid-19 vaccine as well as the new coronavirus strain found in Europe.

Average daily trade for the week was high at P7.86 billion, but foreign investors were still net sellers at P1.54 billion.

Among the subindices, only the Property index posted gains of 9.53 points to close at 3,694.05 points, while the rest closed in the red. The All Shares index fell 54.90 to close at 4,294.45, the Financials index lost 20.73 to 1,467.96, the Industrial index declined 231.77 to 9,320.18, the Holding Firms index lost 63.47 to 7,448.07, the Services index shed 22.23 to 1,526.43 and the Mining and Oil index retreated 261.72 to 9,286.72.

For the week, losers edged gainers 188 to 47 and 19 shares remained unchanged. Top gainers were Millennium Global Holdings Inc., Da Vinci Capital Holdings Inc., Apollo Global Capital Inc., AC Energy Philippines Inc., Abra Mining and Industrial Corp. and Asiabest Group International Inc.

Top losers, meanwhile, were Manila Mining Corp. B, Seafront Resources Corp., EverGotesco Resources and Holdings Inc., Chemical Industries of the Philippines Inc., Easycall Communications Philippines Inc. and Boulevard Holdings Inc.