Share prices ended lower yesterday, with Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shedding more than 200 points right after opening.
Late-session buying managed to cut the loss down to 38.97 points, to help the PSEi close at 6,720.93, a 0.58 percent drop.
Aristotle Reyes Jr., trader at UPCC Securities Corp. noted that the market dropped a huge 200 points at the opening bell due to a confluence of factors before late session buying reduced the drop to its closing level Tuesday.
Reyes said among the factors that spooked the market was the 653-point drop in Wall Street overnight as well as the continued fear of inflation and the Fed rate hike.
“The speculation that an assumption of a Marcos presidency in Malacanang is not good for the market also did not help,” Reyes said.
“But the market rebounded in the afternoon with a notable volume as traders treated the morning drop as a sign that the market is oversold and the concerns premature,” he added.
The broader all shares index was down 37.08 points to 3,584.62, a 1.02 percent drop.
Losers edged gainers 169 to 52 with 34 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P23.19 billion, including a P14.14 billion special block sale of AC Energy Corp.
The peso closed at 52.37 to the dollar, up from 52.50 on Friday. Trading turnover reached $691.6 million.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. said the peso closed at its strongest level in more than a week or since May 2, 2022, when it closed at 52.365.
Other Asian currencies, which have been under selling pressure over the last two sessions due to the cloudy global economic outlook, clawed back some gains, possibly supported by a higher currency and stock market in China, the region’s top economy.
China’s yuan gained 0.4 percent, while its stock market. also gained 0.2 percent.
Some broad dollar weakness might also be aiding currency markets in Asia, an ING analyst said.
Most actively traded SM Prime Holdings Inc. was down P0.70 to P34.50. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was down P0.40 to P94. SM Investments Corp. was down P0.50 to P845. BDO Unibank Inc. was up P1 to P129. PLDT Inc. was down P42 to P1,848.
Semirara MIning and Power Corp. was down P1.20 to P27.10. Ayala Land Inc. was down P1 to P31.50. Converge ICT Solutions Inc. was down P1.55 to P27.60. Nickel Asia Corp. was down P1.12 to P6.60.
