Stocks slip into red zone after three-day rally

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock market  slipped yesterday as investors  pocketed recent gains from a mini rally in the past three days.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange  index (PSEi) tumbled by 67.55 points or one percent to close at 6,660.05.

Japhet Tantiangco of Philstocks Financials said the  local market pulled back as investors booked gains from its three-day rally.

“The profit taking was backed by the negative spillovers from Wall Street’s overnight plunge amid inflation and interest rate worries in the US. Investors also traded cautiously while waiting for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ policy rate decision,” he said.

The BSP raised its key policy rate by 25 basis points to  2.25 percent after over a year of keeping it a record low of two percent.

The sector gauges were a mixed bag with holding firms, property and services ending in negative territory. Mining and  oil, financials and industrial finished in the positive zone.

Companies who made it in the roster of active stocks were also mixed, with more ending in the red than in the green.

Total value turnover was P8 billion.  Market breadth was negative, 105 to 79 while 36 issues were unchanged.

Shares declined in Europe and Asia yesterday  after a broad retreat on Wall Street triggered by worries over the impact of persistent high inflation on corporate profits and consumer spending.

US futures were lower, while oil prices advanced.

The Dow industrials sank more than 1,100 points, or 3.6 percent on Wednesday, and the S&P 500 had its biggest drop in nearly two years, shedding four percent. That was its steepest decline since June 2020. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 4.7 percent.

The benchmark index is now down more than 18 percent from the record high it reached at the beginning of the year. That’s just shy of  the 20 percent decline that’s considered a bear market.