PSE index falls anew over Syria jitters

PSE index as of September 4, 2013, 1:43 PM. Screengrab from https://www.pse.com.ph/

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock index slid below the 6,000-mark anew on Wednesday, the last day of the so-called “ghost month,” due to jitters arising from the increasing talk of a possible US military strike against Syria.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 115.58 points or 1.9 percent and closed at 5,968.33. Other markets in the region also tumbled sharply in morning trade but some pared or even reversed losses later in the session ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s release of its latest commentary on economic conditions or “Beige book.”

“Ghost month ends today with most Asian markets in negative territory as threat of limited strike on Syria seemed imminent,” stock brokerage Regional Capital said in its Twitter account.

Apart from the PSEi, among the worst hit equity markets on Wednesday were those of Indonesia (-2 percent) and Singapore (-1 percent).

The Philippines, being a net oil importer, could be adversely affected by higher oil prices in case a war erupts in the Middle East, dealers said.

At the local market, there were three times as many decliners for every single gainer. Value turnover amounted to P6 billion.

The biggest PSEi decliners were SMC and DMCI, which both fell by over 4 percent, while EDC, SM Prime, Bloomberry, AEV and AP slumped by over 3 percent. JG Summit, SMIC and Globe all slipped by over 2 percent.

The day’s most actively traded stocks were the most valuable companies in the local market – SMIC (-2.71 percent) and PLDT (-2.11 percent), which both weighed the index down.

Among the most actively traded companies, two banks (both non-PSEi) defied the day’s downturn – PNB (+3.02 percent) and RCBC (+1.22 percent).

The major support level for the PSEi is widely seen at 5,500-level based on historic valuation albeit pre-investment grade rating for the Philippine sovereign.

Originally posted at 1:47 p.m.