THE LOCAL stock barometer neared “bear” territory on Wednesday as the slump in oil prices caused risk aversion across the region.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 120.97 points or 1.82 percent to close at 6,521.48. The index has now fallen by 1,606 points or 19.8 percent from the local market’s peak level of 8,127.48 seen on April 10, 2015.
Across the region, stock markets likewise slumped alongside the oil sell-off.
At the local market, all counters tumbled. The decline was led by holding firms and services which respectively slid by 2 percent and 2.77 percent.
Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.8 billion. There were 51 advancers which were overwhelmed by 123 decliners while 33 stocks were unchanged.
Investors sold down Megaworld and LTG, which both fell by over 4 percent while Globe Telecom slipped by 3.26 percent.
ALI, AC, BDO, Metrobank, PLDT and SMIC all tumbled by over 2 percent while SM Prime and GTCAP lost over 1 percent.
URC, Jollibee, FGEN and MPI also slipped.
Outside of the PSEi, Melco slid by 5.22 percent in heavy trade after the recent rebound in gaming stocks.
RLC was among those that bucked the downturn, gaining 1.24 percent while BPI and Meralco also modestly gained.
A bear market is one characterized by a period of sustained fall in prices. A commonly used barometer is when an index has fallen by 20 percent from the peak and remained below such threshold for at least two months. Before last week’s rebound, the PSEi was in “bear” territory for nearly three weeks.