PSEi falls 2.47% , closes below 5,600 level

The local stock barometer lost ground for the second straight session on Tuesday, falling below the 5,600 mark as the free fall of global oil futures battered regional markets.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shaved off 141.4 points, or 2.47 percent, to close at 5,592.25.

“Global equities markets reacted negatively to the extreme drop in the prices of crude oil futures contracts. The expired front-month contract in US crude for May, plunged to negative territory for the first time in history as almost no one was willing to take prompt delivery of oil in a woefully glutted market. The negative price means investors will need to pay buyers to take delivery of crude oil, reflecting the lack of storage space,” said Christopher Mangun, head of research at AAA Equities.At the local market, Mangun said there was heavy selling right upon opening as investors rushed to pocket recent gains.

“Investors were expecting our market to move lower, mirroring the performance of markets abroad. The PSEi is currently down 4.4 percent for the week because of two days of consecutive losses. We may see it continue lower in the coming days and test its major support line at 5,500,” Mangun said.

All counters ended in the red, declining by over 2 percent across the board.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.66 billion. There was P763.3 million worth of net foreign selling.

There were 140 decliners that overwhelmed 49 advancers, while 44 stocks were unchanged.

Investors dumped shares of JG Summit, which lost 6.19 percent, while Ayala Corp. and Metrobank both slid by over 5 percent.

The day’s most actively traded company was fast food giant Jollibee, which tumbled by 4.83 percent. SM Prime and ICTSI also lost over 4 percent.

Globe Telecom and GT Capital both declined by over 3 percent, while URC lost 2.21 percent.PLDT, BPI and Metro Pacific weakened by 1 percent while SM Investments slipped by 0.71 percent.

Notable decliners outside the PSEi included telecom newbie Dito and Italpinas, which fell by 0.4 percent and 2.93 percent, in relatively heavy volume.

On the other hand, second-liners DoubleDragon and AC Energy bucked the day’s downturn, rising by 2.56 percent and 5.41 percent, respectively. INQ