Philippine stocks fall 0.93% as investors take profits

Philippine stocks closed lower on Wednesday as investors took profits following a four-day rally, with the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) falling by 0.93% to close at 7,362.62 and the broader all-share index dropping by 0.6%.

Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco from Philstocks Financial noted that profit-taking occurred after several days in an oversold region, with cautious optimism amid expectations of additional fiscal support from China.

China's central bank announced its biggest stimulus since the pandemic to boost the economy, including a reduction in reserve requirement ratios by 0.5 percentage point, freeing up about 1 trillion yuan for new lending.

Almost all sectoral indices fell, except mining and oil, which rose by 2.82%, while value turnover reached P8.05 billion covering 1.07 billion shares.

Net foreign buying decreased to P921.22 million compared with the P2.99 billion worth of net foreign inflows on Tuesday.