Share prices defy US, regional rallies

MANILA, Philippines - Share prices continued to plunge yesterday, ignoring Wall St’s rally fueled by the monetary policy report of US Federal Reserve chairman Janet Yellen.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined 32.54 points, closing at 7,174.30, while the broader All Shares index went down 18.33 points to end at 4,356.25.

All counters were down, except for the services sector. The biggest loss was registered by the industrial sector which slumped by 60.87 followed by the mining and oil firms, which shed 52.40 points.

Total value turnover reached P7.96 billion. The number of decliners outpaced advancers at 108 to 87, while 47 issues remained unchanged.

According to Jonathan Latuja, equity research analyst at Unicapital Securities Inc., the PSE index closed below 7,200 yesterday despite the rally in other Asian markets, such as China and Japan.

“PSEi went down with other emerging markets and I think this is a reaction to Janet Yellen’s speech the other night wherein she stated their confidence towards the US economy and told the public to expect more rate hikes this year,” Latuja said.