Share prices fell for a fourth straight day on Thursday as uncertainty over the flood-control corruption scandal continued to weigh on investor sentiment.
The benchmark PSEi lost 66.44 points, or 1.09 percent, to close at 6,042.28. The broader All Shares shed 28.79 points, or 0.78 percent, to 3,653.50.
“The local market extended its losses as the Philippines’ corruption issues continued to dampen sentiment. This comes amid another round of Senate hearings wherein more names allegedly involved in the flood control corruption cases were dropped,” Japhet Tantiangco, research manager at Philstocks Financial Inc., said.
All sectors closed in the red, with mining shares leading losses at 2.81 percent. Losers outnumbered gainers 134 to 64, while 50 issues were unchanged.
Turnover reached P6.97 billion on 2.61 billion shares across 73,270 trades. Foreign investors were net buyers at P574.62 million, with purchases of P4.22 billion against P3.64 billion in sales.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., warned that political noise from the scandal “could also expand to other infrastructure projects, besides the controversial anomalous flood control projects.”
Such uncertainty, he said, risks slowing infrastructure and government spending, and in turn, local economic growth.
SB Equities Inc. added that investors also lacked “appetite” ahead of the release of a key US inflation benchmark — the August personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index — due Friday night Manila time.
