Stocks slide on renewed virus fears

MANILA, Philippines — The local bourse extended its decline to a third straight session as pessimism took over the market  amid renewed COVID-19 fears.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Composite index (PSEi) closed at 7,200.88, down 77.56 points or 1.07 percent as the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant sent renewed jitters to investors.

The broader All Shares index slipped 33.26 points or 0.86 percent to end at 3,838.13.

Total value turnover reached a robust P28 billion.

Market breadth was overwhelmingly negative, 150 to 57, while 45 issues were unchanged.

“Market continued to drop on fears that the newly identified Omicron variant may derail plans for economic reopening. However, we observed a significant recovery from losses of more than 200 points, as initial reports from South Africa indicate that the new variant results in milder cases of COVID-19 despite being much more contagious than Delta,” AB Capital Securities said in a commentary.

“This comes as the Omicron variant gets detected in more countries over the weekend, raising worries over its possible spread throughout the world and its adverse effects on the global economy,” said Japhet Tantiangco of Philstocks Financial.

Around Asia, stock markets also fell further after the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was found in more countries and governments imposed travel controls.

“Financial market volatility will likely persist through this week,” said Venkateswaran Lavanya of Mizuho Bank in a report.