Phl stocks plunge on oil price woes

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine stocks took a sharp decline yesterday as sliding oil prices continued to dampen investor sentiment.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell to its lowest in months, plunging 2.71 percent or 194.17 to 6,966.21 while the broader all shares index likewise plummeted 2.25 percent or 95.22 points to close at 4,132.40.

“Local equities continued to slide even as investors wait for positive leads, starting with the NEDA economic briefing,” said Jason Escartin, investment analyst at F. Yap Securities.

“The key market driver in the short run will remain to be the price of oil, which could persist in the $50 to $60 zone until excess supply is taken up by the market,” he added.

It was a bloodbath across all counters in the local market, with five of the six sectoral indices falling by more than one percent.

Holding firms took the sharpest decrease as it lost 3.20 percent or 200.54 points. Property and financial companies also suffered relatively huge losses as it decreased 2.48 percent and 2.34 percent, respectively.

Decliners pummeled advancers, 142 to 44, while 40 were unchanged. Value turnover stood at P7.27 billion.

Wall Street was also in the sour mood as all major indexes fell in the negative territory. The Nasdaq shed off 1.24 percent followed by S&P 500 and the Dow which declined 0.85 percent and 0.65 percent, respectively.