Share prices ended lower Tuesday as investors took to profit-taking on risk aversion.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was down 76.11 points to 6,415.08, a 1.17 percent drop.
The broader all shares index was down 41.25 points to 3,818.11, a 1.07 percent drop.
Losers edged gainers 117 to 79 with 64 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P8.02 billion.
The peso closed at 48.375 to the dollar, up from 48.395 on Monday.
The currency opened at 48.40, an intraday low, hitting a high of 48.37. Trading turnover reached $838.87 million.
Following two separate maiden listings in the southeast Asian region Monday, Reuters reported that the Southeast Asian IPO market has been hit by underperforming stocks and currencies, but companies in the region have raised $7.1 billion so far this year, led by Thailand, up 21 percent from the same period a year ago, according to data from Refinitiv.
Shares in the Philippines’ second-largest IPO and Malaysia’s largest offering in more than three years had a mixed debut on Monday, as analysts pointed to expansion concerns in pandemic-hit markets, Reuters said.
Converge ICT Solutions Inc, a Philippine fibre broadband provider, fell as much as 11.2 percent and ended 9.4 percent lower, while shares in MR D.I.Y. Group Bhd, the Malaysian home improvement retailer, recovered to end the day 9.4 percent higher after briefly dropping as much as 6.25 percent.
Converge, which raised $600 million, counts Canadian pension fund OMERS and Macquarie among its cornerstone investors. MR D.I.Y. raised $362 million, attracting funds under BlackRock Inc, JPMorgan Asset Management and AIA.
Saurabh Agarwal, a partner at Warburg Pincus, the largest institutional shareholder of Converge, noted “a multi-year runway for growth based on how underserved and underpenetrated the market is.”
Converge will use the proceeds to roll out its network to tens of thousands of local communities, while MR D.I.Y. aims to repay bank loans.
Of Tuesday’s trading session, SB Equities Inc., said the market dropped on profit taking “ after President Duterte announced the extension of current quarantine restrictions in the capital region for another month.”
Investors were also reacting to the third quarter corporate earnings that missed estimates while the US market was down overnight “on virus worries,” dampening risk-appetite.
Most actively traded Converge ICT was down P2.88 to P13.92. Ayala Land Inc. was steady at P34.40. Jollibee Foods Corp. was down P3.20 to P173.20. Dito CME Holdings Corp. was down P0.17 to P6.64. BDO Unibank Inc. was down P3.35 to P91.90. SM Investments Corp. was down P12 to P969. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was down P0.70 to P33.50. Ayala Corp. was down P6 to P760. PLDT Inc. was up P2 to P1,362. Metro Pacific Investments Corp. was steady at P4.01.
