PSE CONTINUES DOWNWARD SPIRAL

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) continued its downward spiral today though it managed to claw back from a disastrous below 6,000-point milestone finish which it dropped to in mid-trading with the lack of foreign investor interest and Covid-19 surge haunting the market.

This drop was projected in yesterday's report.

Bargain hunting eked for the PSE index a closing above the psychological level to 6,029.01 points, down by 35.25 points or 0.58 percent . The market opened high at 6.076 before dropping to a low of 5,195.83 points until buyers picked low-priced shares to push up the index.

Still, the overhang of faltering foreign investment interest gnawed at the PSE index as net foreign selling today almost doubled from yesterday’s to reach P710 million in trading where losers overwhelmed the gainers 3, to 1 (150 losers against 50 gainers) and unchanged at 36 issues.

The ABS CBN imbroglio which had been flagged down by respectable foreign media institutions as a hit on press freedom has been playing out in the local stock market that is now contending with an upsurge in Covid 19 cases overwhelming some local government units.

Total value turnover was P4.26 billion with blue chips suffering sell-downs . Only two of the top ten active stocks posted gains , Ayala Land which is benefitting from its planned IPO of its Real Estate Investment Trust vehicle to finish the day 80 centavos higher at P33.80 and BDO which had a slight 10 centavo increase.

SM Investments lost P15, SM Prime , 40 centavos, Universal Robina P2.60, ICTSI,  P1, Jollibee Foods, P3.40, Dito, 18 centavos, PLDT, P19 and BPI 25 centavos.

ABS CBN which started trading today after its suspension after the Congressional vote-down slipped by P4.42 for a 29.21 percent decline to P10.36 while GMA 7 similarly declined, closing 25 centavos lower P5.55. The PDRs if ABS went down by P3.90 while GMA’s PDR issue lost 14 centavos.

The perception from foreign investors on the issue of ABS CBN’s closure has led to the continuing decline and the net foreign selling in the market according to analysts and this uncertainty is seen to impact even the IPO of Ayala’s REIT especially with the fact that 90 percent of the proceeds from the IPO would redound to the owners of Ayala.

Investors who looked at the AREIT IPO have been disturbed by the fact that 90 percent of the IPO are secondary shares leading analysts to rethink their possible investment on whether to park their money with the parent firm of AREIT, Ayala Land, or invest in the said IPO.