Philippine stocks plunge 6.4% by midday

People look at Hong Kong share index at a local bank in Hong Kong, Monday, August 24, 2015. Stocks got a dismal start to the week in Asia, with China’’s main index losing up to 8.6 percent Monday as investors shaken by the sell-off last week on Wall Street unloaded shares in practically every sector. AP

The Philippine stock market plunged 6.40 percent by midday on Monday, pulled down by developments in China and the United States, dealers said.

The country’s benchmark index fell 466.15 points in morning trading, virtually wiping out all the gains made in 2015, when it was hitting record highs.

Analysts blamed the downturn on the sharp fall in stocks in China and the United States. Shares in Asia declined dramatically on Monday, led by a more than eight percent fall in Shanghai, after concerns about the Chinese economy sparked a sell-off in global financial markets.

“Eighty to ninety percent of this sell-off is due to what is happening in China and the US. If you examine our fundamentals, we are still intact,” Louis Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development told AFP.

“We are being dragged down by the larger world economy,” he added.

Limlingan said the rout was compounded by the Philippines having a holiday on Friday when there was no trading.

“We are playing reverse-catch up. We were closed Friday so we did not react to the US performance (last week),” he said.