PSE INDEX IN SHARP DECLINE

The Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) index today posted a sharp decline, losing 124.45 points of 1.81 percent to 6.756.22 points, with losing shares resonating all over the board and the overhang of the sale of unlisted shares of a high-flying stock.

There were only 38 shares that posted rises as the pessimism in the stock market reverberated with 29 shares unchanged.

Net foreign selling amounted to P499 million, with foreign buying amounting to P1.8808 billion and foreign selling of P2.738 billion.

Value turnover reached P9.852 billion, with subsectors in unheard-of hefty declines since the March 2020 meltdown.

The financials had the biggest loss at 3.29 percent, followed by mining and oil at 3.26 percent, then property down by 2.56 percent.

Industrials lost 1.66 percent, holding firms, 1.29 percent, and services, 0.49 percent.

Market analysts said the stock market was spooked by last week's jarring news that unlisted shares of stock of high-flying Abra Mining were red-tagged by both the Philippine Stock Exchange and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The PSE is looking at the way the unlisted shares were allowed to be sold when they were not yet given the thumbs-up.

Only two of the top 20 active stocks that traded, which accounted for two-thirds of the total transactions, posted gains.

The most active stock, Dito CME, lost P1.34 to P13.50 on trades of P1.505 billion, while the second most active, MerryMart experienced a decline of 15.20 percent or 93 centavos, to close at P5.19 on turnover of P680 million.

Second liners, Premiere Horizon and Apollo Global posted losses of 48 centavos to P2.40 at 0.032 to 0.223.

Ayala Energy was also down by 38 centavos to P6.76, while Metrobank, even with foreign buying of P236 million, declined by 15 centavos to P48.70.

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