By Arra B. Francia, Senior Reporter

LOCAL stocks dropped on Friday as investors stayed on the sidelines amid trade negotiations between the United States and China.

The bellweather Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slumped 0.33% or 26.17 points to close at 7,868.28 yesterday, failing to sustain its climb to the 7,900 level. The broader all shares index also slipped 0.23% or 11.31 points to end at 4,856.35.

“Local shares traded in the red as they awaited whether an endgame between China and US is finally nearing,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile phone message.

Talks between the world’s two largest economies are set to resume in Beijing next week, followed by another round of talks in the US on the following week.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a speech during the Belt and Road forum in Beijing that he plans to address state subsidies, protect intellectual property rights, allow foreign investment in more sectors, and avoid competitive devaluation of the yuan, according to a Bloomberg report, which noted that all four issues are being addressed by the US in trade talks with China.

From a technical standpoint, Papa Securities Corp. Sales Associate Gabriel Jose F. Perez noted that Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI)’s performance dragged the market after its shares fell by 2.02% to P48.50 each.

“Index breather today was largely due to ALI’s correction, more so that the heavyweight had been behind the PSEi’s push the past few days,” Mr. Perez said in an email.

The counter for financials was the lone advancer for the day, gaining 0.18% or 3.06 points to 1,743.79. The rest declined, led by property which shed 0.67% or 28.97 points to 4,292.32.

Industrial tumbled 0.42% or 47.89 points to 11,397.31; holding firms went down 0.25% or 18.69 points to 7,535.66; mining and oil dipped 0.24% or 18.62 points to 7,800.34; while services declined 0.10% or 1.58 points to 1,585.73.

Decliners outpaced advancers, 94 to 81, while 61 names were unchanged.

Turnover slipped further to P5.72 billion after some 2.46 billion issues switched hands, slimmer than the previous session’s P6.53-billion turnover.

Foreign investors snapped their four-day net buying streak, recording net outflows of P249.78 million against Thursday’s net purchases worth P48.86 million.

Wall Street indices were mixed on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial AVerage was down 0.51% or 134.97 points to 26,462.08; the S&P 500 index lost 0.04% or 1.08 points to 2,926.17; while the Nasdaq Composite index added 0.21% or 16.67 points to 8,118.68.

Asian markets were mostly in negative territory Friday, taking cues from the weakness of international markets.

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