PSEi falls by 1% on jitters over US-China row

The local stock barometer tumbled on Thursday on heightened concerns over US-China political relations, alongside the MSCI rebalancing overhang.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 79.17 points or 1 percent to close at 7,818.89, weighed down by about P1 billion worth of net foreign selling.

Investors turned jittery after the US Senate passed a resolution supporting human rights in Hong Kong as they weighed the impact on fragile US-China trade relations.

Meanwhile, local stock brokerage Papa Securities said investors were still “waiting for the MSCI overhang to dissipate, more so with the persistent net foreign selling.”

At the local market, the mining/oil counter was the most battered, declining by 5.85 percent.

The financial, industrial and property counters all slid by over 1 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.72 billion.

There were 157 decliners that edged out 38 advancers, while 41 stocks were unchanged.

Semirara was among the most battered PSEi stock, losing 9.57 percent after the government suspended its coal trading operations for one month along with a P1.73-million fine for selling coal to a buyer without accreditation certificate. Parent conglomerate DMCI also shed 4.01 percent.

Jollibee and Aboitiz Power fell by about 3 percent while SM Prime, BDO and BPI all declined by over 2 percent.

ICTSI, Ayala Land and Ayala Corp. all lost over 1 percent while Security Bank, AGI, URC and PLDT also slipped.

Globe Telecom bucked the day’s downturn, rising by 1.95 percent.