PH stocks trek closer into bear territory

Philippine shares were beaten down this week as inflation woes caused a massive selloff in the bourse, with the benchmark index ending in the red yet again on Friday after bargain-hunting activities the previous day.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slipped by 0.96 percent, or 61.45 points, to settle at 6,331.56 while the wider all-shares index shed 1.17 percent, or 40.29 points, to end at 3,394.95.

Before the closing bell, PSEi touched 6,273.73, the lowest for the week. It traded as high as 6,503.53 in the same period.

PSEi declined by 3.04 percent from its closing of 6,530.04 last week. The culprit was the 41-year high US consumer price index that forced the Federal Reserve to jack up its key rate by 75 basis points.

The index is now down 16 percent from the recent high of 7,552.20, but still above the one-year low of 6,270.23. PSEi will enter bear market territory once it reaches 6,041.76. Philstocks Financial, Inc. senior research analyst Japhet Louis Tantiangco said that the market dip on Friday was “due to worries over recession risks on the US economy amid the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening.”

Tantiangco added that the weakening peso—recently dropping to a three-year low—also induced bearish sentiment.

Tantiangco said that investors might hunt for bargains next week given the market plunge but “overall sentiment is expected to be bearishly biased due to lingering concerns such as the upside risks to inflation.”

On Friday, all subsectors dropped except for services, which gained 1.74 percent. Holding firms index incurred the most losses at 1.90 percent, followed by industrial at 1.65 percent.

About 917.40 million shares valued at P11.71 billion were traded. Losers outpaced winners, 133-57, while 45 issues were unchanged.

SM Prime Holdings’ shares, the most actively traded, dipped by 0.40 percent to P37.75 each.

This was followed by International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 4.56 percent to P194.90; Bank of the Philippine Islands, down 1.25 percent to P94.80; SM Investment Corp., down 3.03 percent to P785; PLDT Inc., up 5.91 percent to 1,864; and BDO Unibank Inc., down 2.26 percent to P121.

Other active names were Ayala Land Inc., down 2.11 percent to P27.80; Universal Robina Corp., up 0.83 percent to P97.60; Ayala Corp., up 0.23 percent to P640; and Converge ICT Solutions Inc., down 4.05 percent to P20.15.