Higher-than-expected inflation rates in the US and China worried investors, resulting in the negative close of both the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) and the peso on Thursday.
The main equities index shed 0.60 percent, or 44.03 points, to 7,331.65 points.
All Shares followed with a drop of 0.29 percent, or 11.63 points, to 3,952.90 points.
Majority of the sectoral indexes also finished the day’s trade in the negative territory, led by the Property after it fell by 1.35 percent.
The Mining and Oil index slipped by 0.64 percent, Industrial, 0.56 percent; Financials, 0.54 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.44 percent.
Only the Services index finished on the positive territory after ending sideways with a 0.05 percent movement.
Volume totaled 1.02 billion shares amounting to PHP7.25 billion.
Decliners surpassed advancers at 97 to 91, while 47 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine shares closed lower following the sell-off induced by the hotter-than-expected October CPI (consumer price index) from both China and the US,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation (RCDC) head of sales.
Citing reports, Limlingan said core inflation in the US rose by 4.6 percent, the fastest since 1991, while overall consumer prices increased on an annual rate of 6.2 percent, higher than expectations and among the fastest since the 1990s.
Also, China’s CPI rose by 1.5 percent year-on-year from 0.7 percent in the previous month.
The negative sentiments in the local bourse were also reflected in the foreign currency market, with the peso closing at 50.165 against the greenback from its 50.069 finish a day ago.
It opened the day at 50.18, sideways from the previous session’s 50.15 start.
It traded between 50.24 and 50.13, resulting in an average of 50.188.
Volume totaled to USD1.14 billion, higher than the previous day’s USD1.02 billion.
Source: Philippines News Agency
