PSEi leads losses in Asia as investors take profit

MANILA,Philippines — The stock market slumped yesterday as traders took profits after Tuesday’s rally.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) plunged 190.80 points, or 2.32 percent, to finish at 8,025.88.

Likewise, the broader All Shares index lost 83.01 points, or 1.69 percent, to finish at 4,804.36.

All other indexes finished in the red as well with the holding firms shedding a whopping 2.34 percent.

Total value turnover was also notably thin at P5.889 billion. Market breadth was negative, 109 to 74 while 49 issues were unchanged.

D.A. Market Securities said the PSEi pulled back because of the MSCI rebalancing as global funds had to tune their portfolios.

Foreign selling reached P3.5 billion as against foreign buying of P2.6 billion for a net foreign selling of P975 million.

More companies have started to report their third quarter results, which came in within expectations.

“Markets in the west were flat last night while here in Asia we saw mixed results. Trade optimism faded once again as China pressures the US to remove all tariffs that have been imposed since Sept. 1. Investors are concerned that Washington may not give in to Chinese demands, which will delay the trade deal yet again,” Chris Mangun of AAA Securities said.

He said  the PSE, the main index was the worst performer in Asia, by far, wiping out all of Tuesday’s advances.

“We have just witnessed the massive selling pressure that always came as the PSEi got above 8,000. Perhaps investors are anticipating lower-than-expected GDP numbers and nobody wants to be left holding the bag. Even foreign investors took profits yesterday after constant inflows in the last two weeks,” he said.