Profit taking hounds Phl stocks

Profit taking persisted yesterday in the local bourse, pulling the main index to its lowest level since late in March.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined 1.33 percent or 89.91 points to settle at 6,673.47, while the broader all shares index dropped 1.17 percent or 48.76 points to 4,128.11.

It is the lowest closing for the bellwether index since ending at 6,665.12 on March 26.

PSEi opened in the green, up by 18.47 points to 6,781.85 but profit takers jumped in, reversing the market’s early gains.

Selldown continued for blue chips like SM Investments (-2.87 percent), SM Prime (-3.51 percent), PLDT (-3.28 percent) and BDO Unibank (-4.52 percent).

“Without a doubt, pessimism is so thick investors are hard-pressed to see any reason to be otherwise,” said Justino Calaycay Jr., analyst at Accord Capital Securities.

The local market bucked the trend overseas, which rebounded on easing concerns over the halt of US Federal Reserve’s stimulus program.

In Wall Street, Dow Jones industrial average jumped 0.82 percent or 138.46 points to 15,254.03 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 0.49 percent or 7.91 points to 1,638.65.

In May, a measure of US manufacturing sank to the lowest level since June 2009, giving investors a reason that US Fed will not pull out its $85-billion monthly bond purchase because of the weak economic data.

Locally, all counters were again in negative territory, led by the service sector which declined 3.08 percent or 61.80 points to 1,942.65.