The Philippine Stock Exchange index inched up 104.37 points in a light volume session, recovering from the early losses this week to end 0.89 percent lower.
Investors continued to remain cautious ahead of inflation data to come out early next week., AB Capital Securities Inc., said.
Top gainers are Megawide and Aboitiz Equity Ventures shares as a result of their landmark P9.5 billion deal for the further upgrade of the Mactan Cebu International Airport.
The benchmark stocks rallied on Friday at 6,692.65 amid bright prospects driven by the further expansion of the manufacturing sector, which improved to 51.2 in August from July's 50.8.
In a text message on Friday, Philstocks Financial Inc. assistant manager for research and online engagement Claire Alviar pointed out that the market participation remains weak with a net market value turnover of P4.43 billion, lower than the year-to-date average of P6.29 billion.
Sector performances were mixed, gainers were led by the Holdings, which gained 2.99 percent while losers were led by the Miners, down by 0.68 percent.
Overall, Megawide Construction Corp. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. were up by 10.63 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, BDO Unibank Inc. had the biggest loss of 2.07 percent among the blue chips.
Hawks dampen sentiment
This week, stocks have been weighed down by hawkish comments from United States Federal Reserve officials signaling that interest rate hikes aren't going away anytime soon, Regina Capital Development Corp. managing director Luis Limlingan said.
Macro economic data however was strong suggesting the global economy may continue with its recovery.
