Local shares tumbled on Friday and closed below the 6,800-mark, as the market continued to correct a week after the central bank announced a surprise interest rate cut.

The market’s decline is the fourth consecutive day that the bellwether index posted losses.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 136.29 points or 1.97% to close at 6,791.46 on Friday, while the broader all shares index was trimmed by 37.81 points or 0.91% to finish at 4,100.28.

“[The] market continued the correction today on overvaluations after the huge market rally last week attributed mainly to the COVID-19 vaccine progress, as well as, the unexpected Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ lowering of rates and the generally better earnings performance of companies in the 3rd quarter,” said Diversified Securities, Inc. equity trader Ancieto K. Pangan in a mobile message.

For Regina Capital Development Corp.’s Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan, local stocks fell below the 6,800-mark as investors “realigned with the latest Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index rebalancing that would take effect by the end of November.”

“The U.S. stock market was also closed Thursday due to Thanksgiving, so most opted to take profit as well,” Mr. Limlingan said in a Viber message.

US stocks were mixed: the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 indices went down by 0.58% and 0.16%, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite index ended higher by 0.48%. Asian stocks logged higher values when the local bourse closed, except for the S&P/ASX 200 index, which ended 0.53% lower.

Back home, four of the PSEi indices recorded losses: holding firms by 207.12 points or 2.90%; industrial by 112.47 points or 1.24%; financials by 29.13 points or 2%; and property by 14.31 points or 0.42%. Mining and oil increased by 154.87 points or 1.86%, and services inched up by 3.47 points or 0.23%.

“Oil rose for a 5th straight day, as a surprise drop in crude inventories extended the rally driven by vaccine hopes,” Mr. Limlingan said.

“Gold prices rose as grim U.S. jobs data and worries over surging COVID-19 cases worldwide cast doubts over a quick economic recovery and bolstered the metal’s safe-haven appeal,” he added.

Some 4.5 billion issues valued at P27.65 billion switched hands on Friday, higher than the previous day’s 3.28 billion issues valued at P15.49 billion. Advancers led decliners, 129 against 75, with 50 names closing unchanged. — Angelica Y. Yang

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