Mounting woes push PSEi over 300 points lower

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) plunged over 300 points and closed below the 7,000 level as commodity prices continued to surge while Russia invades Ukraine, threatening to derail domestic economic recovery.

The PSEi dove 4.26 percent, or 310.34 points, to 6,977.73 on Tuesday as the broader all-shares index fell 3.30 percent, or 127.46 points, to 3,739.52.

Regional indices were lower while Wall Street suffered a selloff overnight as commodities like oil, wheat and nickel broke recent price records.

The PSE’s mining and oil subindex jumped 3.62 percent as Nickel Asia Corp. and Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. rallied hard on Tuesday.

Banking stocks were the biggest losers as they pulled down the financial subsector by 5.16 percent. This was followed by holding firms, down 4.23 percent; property, down 4.08 percent; industrial, down 3.74 percent; and services, down 3.31 percent.

Investors sold down their stocks, fearing the uncertain inflation outlook would hurt consumer spending and corporate earnings.

“With higher inflation, people might just hesitate to spend even with the reopening of the economy,” BDO Unibank Inc. chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas told the Inquirer in an interview on Tuesday. INQ