PSEi falls by 6.7%, loses P764B worth of market value

THE LOCAL stock barometer saw its worst single-day drop in history on Monday as concerns over the Chinese economy and the slump in commodity prices triggered a bloodbath across global markets.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index pulled back by 487.97 points or 6.7 percent to close at 6,791.01. In terms of number of points, this was the biggest decline in a single day, resulting in loss of P764 billion in market capitalization in a single day.

In terms of percentage decline, this was the 11th sharpest decline in the history of the local bourse. The market had seen worse decline during the US-epicentered global financial crisis, for instance, when the PSEi dropped by 12.27 percent on Oct. 27, 2008.

“Market players were emotional as they digested the weakness in US markets and negative data from China, causing the local currency and stock market to slide to new lows,” said Banco de Oro Unibank chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas.

Monday’s decline turned the PSEi’s remaining year-to-date gain into a loss of around 6 percent.

Overnight, the closely watched Dow Jones Industrial Index tumbled by 3.12 percent.

The bloodbath was seen across the region. The Shanghai stock index was the worst hit, sliding by over 8 percent. The closely tracked MSCI Asia-Pacific has thus tumbled for the seventh session in a row on Monday.

In a single session, the PSEi has now given up all gains eked out at the beginning of the year. In 2014, the local stock index closed at 7,230.57, up by 22.8 percent for the year.