Stock index hits intra-day record but retreats to close lower

The Philippine stocks index cracked a key barrier of 8,000 points in early trading before retreating ie to profit-taking on Tuesday.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index closed 38.53 points lower to 7,923.50 points. Ten minutes after the opening bell, the index surged 51.56 points to reach 8,013. 89. In the broader market, there were 128 losers, 83 gainers and 42 remaining steady.

Volume reached 2.55 billion shares valued at P9.68 billion. Foreigners remained buyers with P4.62 billion compared to sellers worth P4.36 billion.

Ayala Land Inc was the most active share, but it closed unchanged at P38.40. SM Investments Corp went up by 0.90 percent to P784 while Petron Corp. gained 0.73 percent to P9.72.

PLDT declined by 2.49 percent to P1765 while First Gen Corp shed off 7.16 percent to P19.96.

The peso closed at P49.26 against the dollar from Monday’s P49.86. Volume at the Philippine Dealing System reached $352.50 million from $410.5 million. DMS