Profit taking halts PSEi’s 4-day rally

MANILA, Philippines — As expected, investors were quick to take profits yesterday from the impressive four-day rally last week as thin trades and lack of positive catalysts failed to sustain the market’s gains.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index or PSEi ended 46.02 points or 0.69 percent lower to 6,628.49, while the broader All Shares index declined 24.65 points or 0.60 percent to close at 4,022.83.

Total value turnover fell to P5.4 billion as decliners edged out advancers, 103 to 85, while 57 issues were unchanged.

Net foreign buying, however, continued for the second day with P56 million.

“Philippine shares closed lower after several days of successive gains last week as the index consolidated in the 6,500 to 6,700 range. There were also a lack of leads, with the US being closed for Memorial Day tomorrow. Furthermore, investors are waiting for the maiden listing of consumer heavyweight Monde Nissin which lists (today) to kick start the month of June. Many are assessing the latest economic data sets coming out,” Luis Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital, said.

In a market commentary, AB Capital Securities said the index took a breather and trades remained quiet at just over P5 billion as investors await (today’s) biggest Philippine IPO on record.

Monde Nissin is set to debut following a P48.6-billion (roughly $1 billion) initial public offering that was four times oversubscribed as global investors gobbled up the deal.

“As it is right now, it’s realistic to expect that some profit taking will hound the PSEi this week, but as we also noted two weeks ago, the vaccination drive and economic recovery for the balance of 2021 may just be the narrative that will drive the market from hereon,” said COL Financial in an outlook report.