Investors continued to consolidate their assets and cash in on their gains on Wednesday, making the index fall 60 points away from the 6,100 mark.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) on Wednesday extended its downward phase, falling 0.66 percent, or 40.15 points to 6,047.52.

In a phone interview, Astro del Castillo, managing director of First Grade Finance Inc., said that the decline was just about consolidation and profit taking.

“After several days of run-ups, the market needs to take some rest,” he said.

 Del Castillo added that it will be good for the market to have a correction because it has been on upward trend for so long.

“Hopefully for the rest of the week, there would still be correction, so the market could finally take a recovery in the next few weeks,” he said.

Freya Natividad, analyst at 2TradeAsia.com, said that investors cashed on in gains because they have been retesting the 6,100 mark.

“Most investors locked in gains as PSEi attempted to cross the 6,100 mark and most would still retest the 6,100 barrier,” she said.

The broader all-shares index declined 0.50 percent, or 19.13 points to 3,816.97.
All the sub-indices ended in the red also except financials, which managed to go up slightly by 0.08 percent, or 1.21 points to 1,583.01.

 Natividad said that more investors are favoring the financial sector because of the healthy economic outlook and low interest rates.

Holding firms, on the other hand, led the sub-indexes that ended in the red, decreasing by 1.06 percent, or 57.34 points to 5,332.09, followed by the property counter, which went down by 0.83 percent, or 20.02 points to 2,389.20.

Mining and oil also went down, declining by 0.78 percent, or 167.80 points to 21,323.50, while services slid 0.70 percent, or 12.77 points to 1,802.84. Industrial was almost flat and lost 0.04 percent, or 4.91 points to 9,210.30.

 Decliners beat advancers, 96 to 67, while 52 shares were unchanged.

 On Tuesday, the ascent of the PSEi snapped, falling 0.10 percent, or 6.23 points to 6,087.67, while the broader all-shares index shed 0.03 percent, or 1.04 points to 3,836.10.

The PSEi, however, registered a new intra-day peak at 6,140.72.

The results for the sub-indices were mixed, with financials leading the decliners, going down by 1.08 percent, or 17.30 points to 1,581.80.