Profit taking pulls down PHL stocks

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MANILA — The local stock market closed lower on Thursday, snapping a three-day rally, as investors locked in profits ahead of the strong typhoon expected to affect the Philippines during the weekend.

The barometer Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined 60.90 points to 7,299.85 from previous day’s 7,360.75 close.

”The approaching typhoon reignites concerns of the damage wrought by typhoon ‘Yolanda’ about the same time in 2013…Typhoon damage, if significant, this can also further drag full-year gross domestic (GDP) growth,” said Nisha Alicer, head of research at DA Market Securities Inc., in an interview.

Alicer said that amid possible Christmas rally in select stocks, December can also be marked with thinning volumes as most investors go in vacation.

”We find opportunistic volatilities in the convergence of said events,” she said.

”The market has tried three times in the last two months to try and break 7,400. With the high valuations and mixed earning in third-quarter and a low third-quarter GDP, investors are solidifying gains,” said Banco de Oro Unibank chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas.

Counters were mixed with only the mining and oil and property sectors in positive territory.

Trading volume was thin at 1.74 billion shares valued at Php7.1 billion.

Decliners dominated advancers, 110 to 67, while 46 issues were unchanged.

The day’s top losers were led by Lorenzo Shipping Corp., Anchor Land Holdings Inc., Bloomberry Resorts Corp., Xurpas Inc. and Ionics Inc.