Stocks give up early gains, finish lower

January 17, 2018

Stocks ended lower after gains in early trading on Wednesday.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index finished 16.14 points down to 8, 848.99. In the broader market, there were 120 decliners, 92 gainers and 49 issues unchanged.

Volume reached 941.7 million worth P9.66 billion from Tuesday's 627.3 million valued at P7.4 billion. Foreigners were net buyers with P5.89 billion while sellers unloaded P4.63 billion worth of stocks.

Most active shares were led  by Metrobank, down 7.76 percent to P98.70; GT Capital, down 5.92 percent to P135 and BDO Unibank, down 0.62 percent to P160.

The peso closed at P50.705 against the US dollar from P50.454 on Tuesday. Volume at the Philippine Dealing System went up to $930.65 million from the previous day's $875.37 million. DMS