Stocks decline for third straight session

September 26, 2017

Stocks declined for a third straight session on Tuesday but the key index remained at a high level.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index closed 74.50 points lower to end at 8,170.14. In the broader market, there were 138 decliners, 63 gainers and 53 unchanged.

Volume reached 2.2 billion shares worth P9.61 billion. Foreigners were net sellers, unloading P5.6 billion worth of stocks while buying P4.44 billion.

Among most traded stocks were Energy Development Corp., down 20 percent to P4.80, PXP Energy Corp., down 22.40 percent to P7.69 and Apex Mining, down 12.73 percent to P1.92.

Energy Development Corp's decline came as the Philippine Stock Exchange said the company willbe removed from the PSE index. "It's free float level dropped below the 12 percent minimum requirement to qualify as a main index constituent," the exchange said in a statement.

Robinsons Retail Holdings, which was listed in November 2013 , will replace Energy Development Corp in the index.

The peso closed at P50.935 against the US dollar from P50.710 on Monday. Volume at the Philippine Dealing System rose to $687.90 million from $788.70 million. DMS