PSEi back at 7,800 as blue chip shares fall
Credit to Author: ANGELICA BALLESTEROS, TMT| Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:13:19 +0000
THE stock market fell back to the 7,800 level on Wednesday, led by a decline in shares of blue chips SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH) and Ayala Corp. (AC).
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped by 1.86 percent or 148.72 points to close at 7,864.70. The wider All Shares lost 1.54 percent or 73.49 points to end at 4,715.13.
Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said heavy SMPH and AC sell-offs had dragged the PSEi down, with the Henry Sy-led property firm’s shares dampened by a Local
Government department pronouncement that reclamation projects would not proceed in light of the Manila Bay rehabilitation project.
Limlingan said this sparked fears that SMPH’s P100-billion reclamation project, dubbed Future City might not push through.
SMPH also owns several properties in the bay area, including residential and office projects as well as the SM Mall of Asia and Conrad Hotel Manila. Its share price plunged 6.92 percent or P2.75 to close at P37 apiece.
Japan-based conglomerate Mitsubishi Corp., meanwhile, was said to have disposed of 13 million of its AC shares at a discounted price of P900 apiece, pulling the conglomerate’s shares down 5.31 percent or P51.50 to P919.
P2P Trade Online sales associate Gabriel Jose Perez echoed Limlingan’s view and added that net foreign selling also weighed on the PSEi.
Foreign funds bought P15.65 billion worth of issues and sold P16.8 billion for a net foreign selling position of P1.19 billion.
Only the financials index ended in the green on Wednesday, gaining 0.06 percent.
Volume turnover stood at 1.13 billion shares valued at P20.1 billion.
Losers led winners, 127 to 64, while 50 issues were unchanged.
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