Profit-taking ends PSEi’s 3-day winning streak

Manila, Philippines – Stocks fell at the week’s start, clipping the main index’s three-day winning streak after investors cashed in gains. A slew of key data dot this week’s market landscape, keeping investors on edge.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slid back just a few points shy of falling below 6,000 territory. Its Monday finish of 6,000.32 meant it lost momentum by 1.78 percent from last week’s gains.

“Profit-taking influenced today’s trading session,” Regina Capital managing director Luis Limlingan said in a research note.

“Investors remain cautious ahead of the inflation rate release tomorrow, which could influence the BSP’s next policy move,” he added.

September inflation data is due out on Tuesday, and the worst-case scenario would be that consumer prices sizzled at their fastest pace so far this year past 2 percent, according to initial forecasts by the central bank. The Monetary Board decides on key interest rates on Thursday.

All counters, save for mining shares, ended in the red. Trading stayed below P5 billion for weeks now, with market turnover of P4.91 billion, net of block sales.

Wall Street was a mixed bag. The Dow and Standard & Poor’s hit fresh highs, while the Nasdaq slipped, “with broad strength masking softer tech names amid ongoing volatility,” Limlingan said.

“Investor positioning appears to reflect confidence in further policy easing, despite the usual flow of labor data remaining disrupted,” the stocks analyst said.