The reimposition of tough lockdown protocols in Metro Manila for two weeks starting Aug. 6 caused a bloodbath in the local stock market, turning it into the world’s worst-performing bourse on Friday.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed a hefty 226.3 points or 3.48 percent to close at 6,270.23, a two-month low, as investors priced in the impact of the tighter restrictions on the macroeconomy and corporate earnings moving forward. This marked the biggest single-day decline in six months and likewise the steepest fall among all main stock indices across the globe on Friday.
“Investors sold off to close the weekend and the month to clean their portfolios ahead of the ghost month of August, while others kept to cash to assess the impact of reverting back to ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) after a week,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.
The “ghost” month—which will start this year on Aug. 8 until Sept. 6—refers to a period in the Lunar calendar when Asian investors avoid making big-ticket investments and other big moves. This period also typically coincides with the peak of summer holiday-making in Western markets, thereby reducing market volumes across the globe. At the local market, all counters tumbled on Friday, led by the cyclical property counter, which slid by 4.98 percent.
The holding firm subindex fell by 3.31 percent, while the financial counter lost 2.99 percent.
The industrial counter shed 2.32 percent, while the services and mining/oil counters declined by 1.8 percent and 0.68 percent, respectively.
Value turnover for the day amounted to P6.27 billion.
Even as foreign ownership of local stocks is already at its lowest in history, another P1.6 billion worth of foreign funds flowed out of the market on Friday ahead of Metro Manila’s return to ECQ from Aug. 6 to 20.
There were 159 decliners that overwhelmed 47 advancers, while 42 stocks were unchanged.
Investors dumped shares of property giants Ayala Land and SM Prime, which fell by 4.12 percent and 6.97 percent respectively. They were the two most actively traded companies in the market.