THE MAIN INDEX firmed up on Thursday, albeit ending on a flattish note, as investors remained on the sidelines due to lack of leads.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 0.19% or 15.35 points to close at 7,876.40 yesterday, continuing the sideways trend seen this week. The all-shares index also gained 0.15% or 7.54 points to 4,843.44.
“Index ended flat today after gaining some strength early in the morning, despite US indices ending in the red last night,” Papa Securities Corp. Sales Associate Gabriel Jose F. Perez said in an e-mail on Thursday.
Eagle Equities, Inc. Research Head Christopher John Mangun called Thursday a “boring” day for the PSEi, noting that almost 60% of trading was done by foreign investors.
“Even third-liner and speculative issues that were heavily traded since the beginning of the week have calmed down. The main index is currently down 1.7 percent for the week,” Mr. Mangun said in an e-mail.
The PSEi bucked the negative finish seen in Wall Street on Wednesday, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.13% or 32.14 points to 25,625.59 The S&P 500 index slumped 0.46% or 13.09 points to 2,805.37, while the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 0.63% or 48.15 points to 7,643.38.
Asian indices ended mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 stumbled 1.61% or 344.97 points to 21,033.76. The Hang Seng index went up 0.16% or 46.96 points to 28,775.21, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.92% or 27.78 points to 2,994.94.
Back home, four sectoral indices moved to positive territory, while the other two ended with losses.
Industrials led advancers with a 0.6% or 70.53-point increase to 11,658.15, followed by financials which climbed 0.42% or 7.34 points to 1,754.84. Property went up 0.31% or 12.81 points to 4,067.58, while holding firms added 0.01% or 1.43 points to 7,746.46.
Meanwhile, mining and oil plunged 1.53% or 123.66 points to 7,915.69, while services shed 0.55% or 8.82 points to 1,586.69.
Value turnover slimmed to P5.09 billion yesterday after some 900.57 million issues switched hands, compared to the previous session’s P5.60 billion where 1.20 billion issues changed hands.
Advancers swamped decliners, 120 to 78, while 46 names were unchanged.
Foreign investors remained in buying mode for the sixth consecutive session, recording net purchases of P699.01 million, higher than Wednesday’s P321.88 million.
Eleven of the 20 most actively traded stocks posted gains, including Phinma Energy Corp. (up 3.55%), GT Capital Holdings, Inc. (up 2.14%), and Alliance Global Group, Inc. (up 1.51%).
The same list showed six losers, including Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. (2.5%), PLDT, Inc. (down 2.4%), and 8990 Holdings Inc (down 2.23%).
“A positive move tomorrow will be extremely good for the market in the long term,” Eagle Equities’ Mr. Mangun said. — Arra B. Francia

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