COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE, INC.

SHARES inched down on Friday after the Philippine Stock Exchange announced the rebalancing of its benchmark index and as concerns over coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continued to dampen sentiment.   

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined by 7.36 points or 0.11% to close at 6,539.91 on Friday, while the all shares index gained 12.85 points or 0.31% to end at 4,055.42.   

“The PSEi inched down…after we saw mixed action from blue chips,” COL Financial Group, Inc. Chief Technical Analyst Juanis G. Barredo said in a Viber message on Friday.  

“The weakness we saw in select index stocks like EMP (Emperador, Inc.) and DMC (DMCI Holdings, Inc.), pressured by news that would eventually remove them as index members, was rescued by [rallies] from ICT (International Container Terminal Services, Inc.), JGS (JG Summit Holdings, Inc.), MBT (Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.) and GLO (Globe Telecom, Inc.),” he added. 

“After showing a recovery into the last few days, the index needed to park and see if it could muster more bargain hunting action. The index also felt some pressure as it neared next resistance between 6,600 to 6,700,” Mr. Barredo added. 

“Philippine shares juggled for most of the trading session as fund managers began positioning ahead of the rebalancing which would take effect by the end of next week,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a separate Viber message.  

After conducting a review, the PSE announced on Thursday that DMCI Holdings, Inc. and Emperador Inc. will be removed from the 30-member benchmark index, with AC Energy Corp. and Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions, Inc. to join the PSEi beginning Aug. 16.   

“The market inched lower during the last minute of trading, in step with how the rest of the Asian region performed today, amid the economic uncertainty brought by the spread of the Delta variant across the region,” Timson Securities, Inc. Trader Darren Blaine T. Pangan said in a Viber message. 

The country’s Health department announced on Friday that the Delta variant of the COVID-19 has been detected in all 17 local government units within the country’s capital region, which will be under the strictest form of lockdown until Aug. 20.  

“Moreover, foreigners turned net sellers today after four consecutive days of being net buyers,” Mr. Pangan added.  

Foreigners recorded P167.24 million in net outflows on Friday, a reversal of the P237.61 million in net purchases logged on Thursday. 

Most sectoral indices closed in the red on Friday except for services, which gained 34.26 points or 2.13% to 1,639.98, and financials, which inched up by 0.15 point or 0.01% to finish at 1,431.78. 

Meanwhile, mining and oil dipped by 67.72 points or 0.69% to 9,719.25; property went down by 19.15 points or 0.63% to 2,977.82; industrials lost 9.36 points or 0.1% to end at 9,295.94; and holding firms 3.6 points or 0.05% to 6,537.37. 

Value turnover increased to P6.95 billion with 1.35 billion shares switching hands on Friday, from the P4.77 billion with 962 million issues traded the previous day.   

Advancers beat decliners, 117 to 76, while 37 names remained unchanged. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte 

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