Rally loses steam on profit taking; Fed watched

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
SHARES snapped their five-day winning streak on Tuesday after investors resorted to profit taking ahead of the United States Federal Reserve’s meeting this week, even as those overseas remained predominantly buyers.
The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gave up 1.3% or 101.32 points to close at 7,672, while the all-shares index lost 0.88% or 41.16 points to 4,604.12.
“After a five straight days of gains totaling 5.26%, the market succumbed to profit taking…” RCBC Securities, Inc. said in a note prepared by research analyst John Paolo D. Ayson, who noted “[i]t was the locals who cashed in their gains, with the foreigners accumulating P256mn net today.”
“Market had profit taking today… following regional market downtrend,” Diversified Securities, Inc. trader Aniceto K. Pangan said in a text message.
Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan also cited profit taking as the trigger for the index’s fall, saying in a separate message: “After five consecutive days of bargain hunting, investors decided to take profit from issues that they had bought earlier.”
“Funds also kept to cash ahead of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting which will occur tomorrow evening in the US,” Mr. Limlingan added.
The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep rates steady at the end of its July 31-Aug. 1 meeting.
Wall Street fell under the weight of technology stocks, while Asian markets closed mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and the Shanghai SE Composite index edged up 0.04% and 0.26%, respectively, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 0.52%.
Back home, all sectoral indices ended in negative territory, led by property which plunged 1.72% or 65.72 points to 3,754.81 and followed by financials that went down by 1.18% or 22.33 points to 1,858.92; holding firms that dropped 1.13% or 86.88 points to 7,593.74; mining and oil that fell by 0.98% or 96.88 points to 9,714.41; industrials that gave up 0.82% or 89.70 points to 10,830.18; and services that slipped by 0.51% or 7.79 points to 1,493.58.
Turnover grew to 842.022 million shares worth P7.05 billion, compared to Monday’s 1.02 billion shares worth P5.61 billion. Stocks that fell were more than double those that gained at 130 to 63, while 52 issues ended flat.
Tuesday’s list of 20 most active stocks counted 15 losers, including Ayala Land, Inc. (down 3.20% to P40.85 apiece); BDO Unibank, Inc. (1.49% to P132); Ayala Corp. (1.38% to P999); Universal Robina Corp. (5.88% to P128); GT Capital Holdings, Inc. (2.41% to P970); and PLDT, Inc. (down 1.62% to P1,337 each).
Only five stocks on the list gained: Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (up 0.43% to P4.71 apiece); Jollibee Foods Corp. (1.50% to P270); Globe Telecom, Inc. (1.21% to P1,835); DMCI Holdings, Inc. (0.68% to P11.80); and International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (0.68% to P89).