By Denise A. Valdez, Reporter

THE MAIN INDEX slumped on Monday as the market started consolidating following last week’s rally.

The 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gave up 176.03 points or 2.23% to close Monday’s session at 7,701.60. The broader all shares index also lost 80.18 points or 1.72% to 4,581.89.

“We saw a technical pullback today as investors booked profits from Friday’s rally,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Senior Research Analyst Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco said in a text message on Monday.

After the main index climbed 136.56 points or 1.76% to close at 7,877.63 on Friday, Mr. Tantiangco said the market simply consolidated at this week’s resumption of trading.

But he added the market’s performance was also affected by the trade talks between United States and China, which still lacked clarity for some investors despite reports that it is “totally done.”

“Monday’s trading also showed investors’ reaction to the phase 1 trade deal of the US and China. While a deal has been agreed upon, some crucial points were left unclear,” Mr. Tantiangco said.

Reuters reported Monday a confirmation from US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on the certainty of the trade deal, citing an interview in CBS’ “Face the Nation” news program where he said the agreement is “totally done” despite the need for some revision in the text.

But Luis A. Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corp., noted that “neither US nor Chinese officials have been specific about what the reforms are, nor has there been any detail provided regarding the size of Chinese agriculture purchases from the US.”

“Local shares were sold down…as investors deployed their funds back into the US markets,” he said in a mobile message.

Wall Street ended Friday’s session in green territory: the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 indices were both flat at 0.01% growth, while the Nasdaq Composite index climbed 0.20%.

Almost all sub-sectors went down. Holding firms dropped 183.93 points or 2.41% to 7,449.38; financials went down 44.8 points or 2.35% to 1,858.37; property declined 91.99 points or 2.19% to 4,101.95; industrials lost 181.28 points or 1.86% to 9,540.80; and services gave up 20.6 points or 1.35% to 1,504.59.

The lone gainer was mining and oil, which added 83.85 points or 1.11% to 7,605.31.

Some 483.74 million issues worth P6.23 billion switched hands on Monday, down from Friday’s 714.47 million issues valued at P7.49 billion.

Decliners outpaced advancers, 126 against 70, while 73 names ended unchanged.

The local bourse saw net foreign outflows on Monday worth P983.42 million, a reversal of Friday’s net inflow of P309.55 million.

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