MANILA, Philippines — Profit-taking took a heavy toll on the local stock market yesterday, pulling down the main index below the 7,300 level.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index plunged by 1.41 percent or 103.26 points to close the session at 7,239.98.
The broader All Shares index also ended in negative territory, dropping by 1.46 percent or 58.89 points to 3,977.31.
“We saw some heavy profit-taking across the board, especially for stocks that have outperformed the broader market like Globe and Converge,” AP Securities research head Alfred Benjamin Garcia said.
“It was a bit expected that investors would want to pocket their gains after multiple failed attempts to break past the key resistance at 7,500, especially with a long weekend coming up,” Garcia said.
Net value turnover, however, improved to P5.6 billion from the previous day’s P3.6 billion.
All sectors were in the red, with the property counter posting the biggest loss at 2.29 percent.
Financials and services also declined by more than one percent each.
Market breadth was negative as decliners pummeled advancers, 147 to 55, while 41 issues were unchanged.
Globe Telecom was the top traded company and was the biggest loser among index members, falling 7.33 percent to P2,100 per share.
Converge also took a significant hit, dropping by 6.14 percent to P15.90 per share.