PSE Index Crumbles

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index today crumbled on fears of the omicron pandemic rearing its ugly head with all sub-indices down in big numbers to close at 7,210.22 points, down by a hefty 0.44 percent.

Photo Insert: The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, December 15, 2021

Losers outpaced gainers almost by a factor of 3 with the property sector posting the biggest loss at 2.34 percent.

The holding firms lost 1.45 percent, services by 1.32 percent, mining and oil by 1.32 percent, financials by 1.27 percent, and industrials by 1.01 percent. There were 142 losers, 58 gainers, and 54 shares unchanged.

Value turnover was almost double the average with 11.346 billion pesos with Monde emerging as most active with trades of p963 million as it posted a 50 centavo loss to close at p15.60. PLDT followed with p952 million as it rose by p14 to P1,732. BDO Unibank was unchanged at p127 with trades of p528 million.

Investors went on a selling binge as the news of omicron transmissions said to be much infectious brought fears especially with the effect of the new variant in Europe.

Among the losers were SM Prime, down p1.25 to p34.25, Ayala Land down 15 centavos to p35.85, ICTSI, down p1.90 to p193.60, and Systems Grid, down 68 centavos to p13.04.

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