Covid-19, regulatory risks push PSEi below 7,400
THE continued impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and concerns over regulatory risks exerted selling pressure on the stock market on Wednesday, dragging it again to the 7,300 territory.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped 0.76 percent or 56.30 points to close at 7,383.10, while the wider All Shares fell 0.79 percent or 34.59 points to finish at 4,355.46.
“Epidemic and regulatory concerns weighed on the local market today, pulling it down,” Philstocks Financial Inc. said in a market comment.
Covid-19, formerly known as 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease, continued to spook global markets after claiming the lives of more than 1,100 people and infecting tens of thousands since emerging in the city of Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province last December.
The illness has spread to more than two dozen countries, including the Philippines, where one man who traveled from the Chinese city died.
Timsons Securities trader Darren Pangan noted that investors sold off positions “ahead of the MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) quarterly rebalancing” on Wednesday.
“Market breadth was not spared as decliners outnumbered advancers,” he said.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose by 0.17 percent and 0.11 percent, respectively. The Dow Jones was flat.
Asian markets mostly surged. Tokyo climbed by 0.74 percent, Shanghai gained 0.87 percent, Hong Kong rose by 1.07 percent, Seoul increased by 0.69 percent, Singapore jumped by 1.40 percent, Thailand grew by 0.69 percent and Vietnam inched up by 0.54 percent. In contrast, Jakarta fell by 0.56 percent.
In Manila, all sectors slipped, with industrial and services taking the biggest hit at 1.67 percent and 1.40 percent, respectively.
Volume turnover stood at P1.31 billion shares amounting to P6.07 billion.
Losers led winners, 122-63, while 51 issues were unchanged.
WITH A REPORT FROM AFP