Stocks closed flat on Wednesday as the index saw marginal gains despite the announcement of an initial public offering by construction firm Wilcon Depot Inc.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index closed 0.04 points to 7, 294.56 points Volume reached 1.08 billion shares valued at P6.6 billion, down from Tuesday’s 1.77 billion shares worth P8.38 billion.

Foreign sellers outweighed buyers, with selling at P3.46 billion and buying at P3.15 billion.

The Philippine Stock Exchange also approved Wilcon Depot Inc’s P7.9 billion initial public offering.

The bourse allowed Wilcon to sell up to 1.393 billion shares, with the maximum price at P5.68 per share.The final offer price is to be announced on March 17 while the offer period will be from March 20 to 24, with listing at the Philippine Stock Exchange on March 31.

This is the first initial public offering for 2017.

Meanwhile, the peso declined by seven centavos to end at P50.34 at the Philippine Dealing System. Volume went down to $338 million from Tuesday’s $481.50 million. DMS