Foreign selling drags PSEi in morning trade
PHILIPPINE shares retreated in early trading on Tuesday on foreign selling along with profit-taking by local investors following five straight days of market gains.
At the noon break, the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was down 109.52 points or 1.41 percent at 7,663.80 while the wider All Shares was down 44.57 points or 0.96 percent at 4,600.71.
Philstocks Financial, Inc. research associate Piper Chaucer Tan blamed the losses on foreign selling, saying that foreign investors likely switched to bigger markets such as the US after data showed the US economy grew 4.1 percent in the second quarter on the back of increased business and consumer spending.
Meanwhile, Tan said local investors also took profit on overbought issues following the market’s five-day winning streak and in the wake of disappointing second-quarter earnings.
On Monday, Universal Robina Corp. said net profit in the first half dropped 23 percent to P4.9 billion, while BDO Unibank reported a 1.5-percent dip in first half net profit to P13.1 billion.
All sectoral indices were in the red led by property, down 1.50 percent. ANGELICA BALLESTEROS
The post Foreign selling drags PSEi in morning trade appeared first on The Manila Times Online.