Profit-taking drags down index

MANILA, Philippines – Share prices tumbled in moderately active trading yesterday as investors continued to take profits.

The PSE index dropped by 24.38 points or 0.56 percent to close at 4,260.69.

Over 2.35 billion shares worth P5.59 billion changed hands.

Losers led gainers 90 to 50, with 43 issues unchanged from Wednesday’s levels.

The index needs to settle at 4,000 before its can take off at this point in time, he added.

He said that based on what’s happening now “it’s all up to the money flow” from foreign fund managers.

The Philippine Stock Exchange has revamped its roster of blue chip stocks under its main barometer index to include Gokongwei listed flagship firm JG Summit Holdings Inc., Lopez-led First Gen Corp., and the Consunji family’s DMCI Holdings starting November.

Ejected from the main PSE index were diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp., GMA Network Inc. and Security Bank Corp.

San Miguel was removed from the list since its free float of 8.1 percent fell below the minimum of 10 percent.

The 30 companies that make up the PSEi have an average free float level of 40 percent.

PSEi is a basket of stocks of the country’s most traded, most liquid and well-capitalized listed firms. It is generally considered as a generally considered as a benchmark of the stock market’s performance.

To be included in the PSEi, a listed company must satisfy 5 criteria – the free float level, liquidity, volume turnover, tradability and free float market capitalization.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks were mixed yesterday as traders weighed a report saying expected US monetary easing might not be as big as initially thought.

The news supported the dollar, however, which held up against the yen after advancing in New York on Wednesday.

Tokyo fell 0.22 percent, or 21 points, to 9,366.03 and Shanghai shed 0.71 percent while Seoul ended 0.09 percent, or 1.67 points, lower at 1,907.87.

Hong Kong rose 0.28 percent by the break and Singapore was 0.35 percent stronger.

The Wall Street Journal said Wednesday that the US Federal Reserve would likely unveil next week a programme to purchase bonds worth “a few hundred billion dollars over several months”.

The reported plan to kickstart recovery in the world’s biggest economy appeared to fall short of investors’ expectations of more aggressive purchases of long-term assets, known as quantitative easing (QE).

The Fed, which concludes its two-day policy meeting next Wednesday, will be keeping an eye on gross domestic product figures to be released this week.

The central bank injected more than $1.5 trillion into the markets during the 2008-2009 financial crisis in an effort to support recovery.

Global stocks have rallied in recent weeks on expectations of a stimulus plan, which has taken a heavy toll on the dollar.

However, the reports pushed the dollar up on Wednesday to end in New York at ¥81.75. It eased to ¥81.60 in Tokyo morning trade but was well off the 15-year low of ¥80.41 reached earlier this week.

However, the greenback’s gains have also been capped by Japanese exporters selling the unit as they try to cash in on its advances.

“The dollar was holding firm on short-covering” before next week’s Fed meeting, said Daisuke Karakama, market economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank.