Regional jitters drag PSEi to below 6,900

The local stock barometer on Tuesday tumbled below 6,900 as worries over sluggish oil prices and weak China export data curbed risk-taking across regional markets.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 73.44 points or 1.06 percent to close at 6,838.42, tracking the downturn across regional markets. This was after China’s export earnings fell for the fifth month in November, raising fresh concerns on the fragile state of the Chinese economy.

At the local market, all counters faltered led by the holding firm and property counters which both fell by more than 1 percent.

The PSEi has now declined for the fifth straight session.

Value turnover for the day was thin at P4.7 billion. There were more than twice as many decliners (116) as there were advancers (55). Foreign investors were net sellers in the market amounting to P842 million.

BDO led the PSEi’s decline, falling by 2.27 percent while Globe, Metrobank, SMIC, GTCAP and SM Prime all slumped by over 1 percent.

URC, AC, ALI, BPI, PLDT and AP also slipped.

Among the few that bucked the day’s downturn were Jollibee and Metro Pacific.

Outside of the PSEi, one of the notable gainers was RCBC which rose by 1.43 percent in heavy trade. DoubleDragon also firmed up.