PSE Index Down Anew

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index plummeted to a new low before bargain hunters nudged it back in another anemic trade to close at 6,473.03 points, down by 49.55 points or 0.76 percent to 6,473.03 points.

An hour before the close, the index precipitously hit a new low, beating the Monday close before recovering as investors picked up bargains that included market bellwether SM Investments and Ayala Corp, which dropped respectively to P920 and P713 before closing to P954, down by just P2 and P730, lower by P10.

Ayala Land, which emerged as the top gainer with trades of P392 million, also hit a low of P33.15 before bargain hunters stopped the slide and even led to a gain of 20 centavos at the close, at P34.05. The same rang true for Metrobank, which hit a low of P44.30 before investors pushed it up to P45.10 for a 10 centavo gain.

That Metrobank rise tempered the decline in the financial sub-index, which suffered the most at a decline of 1.28 percent.

The industrials lost 1.16 percent, holding firms, 0.47 percent, services, 0.29 percent, mining and oil, 0.97 percent, and property, 0.75 percent.

BDO Unibank lost 20 centavos to P34.05, Bank of PI, by P1.10 to P83.10, and Jollibee by P1.45 to P190.50. PLDT and Globe went down respectively by P14 to P1,241 and P1 to P1,888.

Value turnover amounted to P4.486 billion with losers overwhelming gainers, 144 to 44 with 37 shares unchanged. Market players say that the market may trade between 6,300 to 6,500 points all dependent on the Delta variant's surge that could lead to severe lockdown.

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