Negative sentiments reigned in the local bourse on Wednesday dragging the main index, which posted a year-to-date high a day ago after it tracked its US counterparts, but the peso gained anew against the US dollar.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined by 0.89 percent, or 65.99 points, to 7,375.68 points from Tuesday’s 7,475.75, its highest close so far this year.
All Shares went down by 12.52 percent, or 567.33 points, to 3,964.53 points.
Financials registered the biggest drop at 1.79 percent and was followed by the Holding Firms, 1.01 percent; Property, 0.65 percent; Industrial, 0.30 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.26 percent; and Services, 0.10 percent.
Volume totaled 1.17 billion shares amounting to PHP11.16 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 116 to 77, while 56 shares were unchanged.
Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales, said the main index ended in negative “as investors locked in some gains ahead of the release of the MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) results later.”
Limlingan said US stocks also ended their eight-day rally on Tuesday “as investors took some profits after an October rally and awaited key inflation data ahead.”
Meanwhile, the peso gained against the US dollar after finishing the trade at 50.069 from its 50.091 on Tuesday.
It opened the day sideways at 50.15 and traded between 50.15 and 50.005.
The average level for the day stood at 50.068.
Volume totaled USD1.02 billion, lower than the previous session’s USD1.39 billion.
Source: Philippines News Agency