Profit-taking pulls stocks lower

MOST local stocks retreated yesterday on profit-taking and a weak regional sentiment arising from sluggish data from China and Japan.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gave up 37.58 points or 0.7 percent to close at 5,308.52. All counters ended in the red.

Dealers were expecting local stocks to pull back this week after surging close to record highs last week. Local trading also tracked weak regional sentiment on an unfavorable Japan consumer confidence report and China fac- tory data.

At the same time, key markets like China, Hong Kong and South Korea were on a public holiday break yesterday, muting trading across the region.

At the local market, value turnover was thin at P4.62 billion. There were 63 advancers that were beaten by 91 decliners while 40 stocks were unchanged.

The main index was weighed down most by URC (+4.09 percent), Ayala Land (2.31 percent), JG Summit

(-1.69 percent), Ayala (-1.69 percent), Globe Telecom (-1.47 percent) and First Gen (-1.4 percent). M Prime, Aboitiz Power, PLDT, Jollibee also contributed to the day’s decline.

On the other hand, index losses were tempered by the gains of Belle (+3.21 percent), RLC (+1.68 percent) and EDC (+0.33 percent). Belle has been rising on expectations that a buy-in deal with Macau casino group Melco on the Belle Grande project was near.