Typhoon barrels down on inflation-weary market; PSEi drops to 7,400 mark

Fearing an incoming powerful typhoon could further aggravate inflationary pressures, the local stock barometer fell to the 7,400 mark on Friday and missed a regional upswing.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 104.22 points, or 1.39 percent to close at 7,413.15.

For the week, the main index lost a total of 185.49 points, or 2.44 percent.

“There are concerns on the typhoon and the possible effects on supply side inflation,” Eagle Equities president Joseph Roxas said.

Typhoon “Ompong” (international name: Mangkhut), estimated to make a landfall on Saturday, is expected to be the most powerful storm to hit the Philippines this year.

On Friday, all counters ended in the red, but the most battered was the property counter, which slid by 1.94 percent.

The industrial and holding firms also lost over 1 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P6 billion. There were 115 decliners that overwhelmed 67 advancers, while 46 stocks were unchanged.

The PSEi was weighed down most by conglomerate GT Capital, which lost 4.12 percent, while Meralco and JG Summit also fell by over 3 percent.

Ayala Land, SM Prime and Jollibee all declined by over 2 percent, while SM Investments, URC, PLDT, AEV and LTG all slipped by over 1 percent.

Ayala Corp., BPI and Globe also fell.

Notable decliners outside the PSEi included IRC (-6.87 percent) and Bloomberry (-3.04 percent).

Meanwhile, Metro Pacific defied the day’s downturn, gaining 0.96 percent.

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System has approved Maynilad’s rebasing adjustment from 2018 to 2022 of P5.73/cubic meters, adding to the current average basic water charge of P32.48/cu.m. To mitigate the impact of the tariff increase on its customers, Maynilad offered to stagger its implementation over a four-year period. Metro Pacific holds a majority stake in Maynilad.

Pilipinas Shell also gained by 0.57 percent.