Surge in COVID-19 cases in PH, world rattles PSEi

The local stock barometer slipped for the third session in a row on Thursday as rising ca­ses of coronavirus infection here and abroad spooked investors.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell by 70.57 points or 1.14 percent to close at 6,118.26.

The PSEi has now gone down by 3.1 percent for the week and closed below its minor support of 6,160, said AAA Equities head of research Christopher Mangun. He noted that “investors prefer being on the safe side and are less optimistic than investors abroad.”

“Accelerating cases in Cebu City continue to weigh heavily on investors’ minds. It may continue lower in [Friday’s] trading to test support at 5,950,” he said.

On Wall Street, Mangun noted surging cases in the United States also scared investors back into safe-haven assets and out of riskier equities.

At the local market, the index was weighed down most by the financial and mining/oil counters, which slumped by 2.54 percent and 2.92 percent, respectively. The holding firm and services counters both declined by over 1 percent.

Only the property counter eked out a modest gain of 0.22 percent.

Total value turnover amounted to P6.75 billion. Foreign selling continued, resulting in P662.3 million of net foreign outflows for the day.

There were 139 decliners that overwhelmed 58 advancers, while 38 stocks were unchanged.

Metro Pacific slid by 5.41 percent, while lenders BDO, Metrobank and Security Bank all fell by over 3 percent.AGI lost 2.7 percent, while Ayala Corp., Globe Telecom, Jollibee, PLDT, URC and Megaworld all declined by over 1 percent. SM Investments slipped by 0.75 percent.

Outside the PSEi, notable decliners included MacroAsia, which tumbled by 9.86 percent, while Dito fell by 4.44 percent. Newly listed MerryMart gave up 1.14 percent.

On the other hand, Meralco gained 1.2 percent while property giants SM Prime and Ayala Land both firmed up by less than 1 percent.