The local stock market tumbled as investors opted to take profits following a two-day climb.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 1.23 percent, or 78.39 points, to end yesterday’s session at 6,288.25.
The broader All Shares index also closed in the loss column, sliding by 0.77 percent, or 26.76 points, to settle at 3,437.23.
‘The local index ended lower as investors reacted to the MSCI Philippine Index latest review, which triggered selling pressure on select names,’ Luis Limlingan of Regina Capital said.
‘The peso’s depreciation against the dollar further weighed on sentiment, prompting a more cautious stance among market participants,’ he said.
All sectors were in the red, except for financials which eked out a 0.13-percent gain.
The property index took the biggest hit, declining by 3.74 percent, followed by the mining and oil index which fell by 2.70 percent.
Decliners edged out advancers, 96 to 89, while 63 issues did not change hands. Value turnover was at P14.25 billion, net of extraordinary block sales.
ICTSI was the session’s top traded stock, plunging by 1.53 percent to P965 per share, followed by Ayala Land and SM Prime, which plummeted by 5.67 percent and 7.05 percent, respectively, to P14.98 and P18.20.
COL Financial chief equity strategist April Lee-Tan said there were two important developments that led to the significant drop in Ayala Land and SM Prime’s share prices.
‘Ayala Land was removed from the MSCI Philippines Standard Index and reclassified into MSCI Philippines Small Cap Index. Since more foreign institutional investors track or follow the standard index versus the small cap index in creating their portfolios, we are seeing a lot of foreign selling,’ Tan said.
‘Meanwhile, one of SM Prime’s institutional investor wants to sell up to $81.7 million in a placement at P18.04 to P18.20 per share, representing a 7.1 to 7.9-percent discount to the previous close of P19.58 per share,’ she said.