Share prices ended lower Monday on risk aversion rise amid a health concern in China.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was down 35.78 points to 7,587.63, a 0.47 percent drop.
The broader all shares index was down 28.23 points to 4,495.34, a 0.62 percent drop.
Losers edged gainers 119 to 69 with 43 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P4.3 billion.
The peso closed at 50.835 to the dollar, down from 50.815 on Friday.
The currency opened at 50.88, hit a high of 50.80 and a low of 50.94. Trading turnover reached $787.95 million.
SB Equities Inc. said the market traded lower on thin trade “as deepening concerns over the spreading Wuhan corona virus weighed on sentiment.”
“With many regional markets closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, volumes were exceedingly light,” SB Equities said.
Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development Corp., said there is a new confirmed corona virus case in the US, “stoking concerns over the disease’s global economic impact.”
“In relation, gold prices skyrocketed past its two-week high as the corona virus continued to dent risk sentiment. Spot gold climbed by 0.76 percent to $1,5740.00/ounce while the US gold futures rose by 0.65 percent to $1,572.60/ounce. Oil notched its worst week since July 2019 as the virus outbreak from Wuhan, China continued to put pressure on the prices. The US WTI crude futures declined by 2.5 percent to $54.19, but not before hitting a session-low of $53.85. Meanwhile, the Brent crude fell by 2.2 percent to $60.69,” Limlingan said.
Most actively traded Ayala Land Inc. was up P0.20 to P41.60. Philweb Corp. was up P0.33 to P41.2. Ayala Corp. was down P2 to P738. Bloomberry Resorts Corp. was down P0.45 to P9.87. SM Investments Corp. was down P7 to P1,025. Bank of the Philippine Islands was up P0.45 to P82.70. SM Prime Holdigs Inc. was up P0.20 to P41.
