PH market sinks deeper into bear territory

The local stock market sank deeper into bear territory on Thursday, underperforming regional markets on post-“Ompong” inflation jitters.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 86.5 points, or 1.2 percent to close at 7,135.73 as foreign funds continued to flow out of the market.

Crop damage from the recent typhoon is seen to further drive up consumer price pressures in the country and prompt the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to raise interest rates more aggressively in its monetary meeting next week.

Trading volume was thin at P4.59 billion and there was P385.7 million worth of net foreign selling.

The PSEi was weighed down most by the holding firm, services, mining/oil and property sectors, which all tumbled by over 1 percent. All counters ended in the red.

There were 113 decliners that edged out 82 advancers while 33 stocks were unchanged.

For BDO Unibank strategist Jonathan Ravelas, the market is now on a consolidation mode and never really got out of the doldrums since the PSEi first crossed bear territory this year in June.

A bear market refers to a period of consistently falling prices of securities, the opposite of a bull market.

Investors sold down shares of power-based conglomerate AEV, which fell by 4.03 percent, and SM Investments, which tumbled by 3.15 percent.

SM Prime and GT Capital both lost over 2 percent, while Metrobank and Globe Telecom both declined by over 1 percent.

On the other hand, Jollibee added 2.65 percent, while JG Summit gained 1.73 percent.

Shares of BPI and BDO also firmed up.