PSEi opener absorbs world’s unease over long war vs virus

The local stock barometer started the week on a sour note, tracking sluggish risk sentiment across global markets, as investors braced for a prolonged war against the new coronavirus pandemic.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 135.46 points, or 2.57 percent, to close at 5,131.16 on Monday. Luzon, including Metro Manila, are now on the third week of lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

It’s looking to be a rough start to the week despite the $2-trillion US fiscal stimulus bill already signed by US President Donald Trump, according to local stock brokerage Papa Securities.

The virus has already infected 140,000 across the globe. Both the United States and Italy have already surpassed the number of cases in China, where the first one was reported in late December.

“As for the PSEi, there’s a strong possibility that we see a retest of the 5,000 mark in the near-term especially since the strong resistance area around 5,500 [that] we have been flagging held firm last Friday. Cases have now reached 1,400 in the Philippines despite the lockdown so it might be reasonable to see an extension of the quarantine, thereby adding to the already damp sentiment,” Papa Securities said.

All counters ended in the red, led by the financial and holding firm counters, which both tumbled by over 3 percent.

The industrial and property counters declined by over 2 percent while the mining/oil counter fell by 1.34 percent. The services counter also slipped.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.33 billion. There was an P887.4 million worth of net foreign selling for the day.Decliners totaled 134, outnumbering 49 advancers, while 37 stocks remained unchanged.

The PSEi was dragged down by infrastructure holding firm Metro Pacific and retailer Puregold, which both slid by 7.7 percent, while BPI lost 6 percent.

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. and Security Bank fell by nearly 5 percent, while SM Prime, SM Investments and GT Capital all declined by over 4 percent.

Jollibee and JG Summit both lost over 3 percent while BDO and Meralco both fell by over 2 percent.

Globe Telecom declined by 1.9 percent, while URC, Metrobank and ICTSI all slipped by less than 1 percent.

Megaworld bucked the day’s downturn, rising by 4.6 percent. —Doris Dumlao-Abadilla INQ