PSEi continues to tumble on fears of aggressive Fed  

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine stock market remained in negative territory yesterday as concerns about further tightening by the US Federal Reserve remained.

Regina Capital said the “summer rally” has faded as Fed rate-hike worries prevailed after the Fed hinted of more aggressive rate hikes.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Composite index (PSEi) closed lower at 6,618.38, down 86.03 points or 1.28 percent while the broader All Shares index was down by 46.02 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 3,531.91.

All sectoral indexes were down led by  mining and oil and property sectors.

Total value turnover yesterday reached P5.66 billion.

Foreign selling prevailed with P2.62 billion as against foreign buying which reached P2.52 billion or a net foreign selling of P100.83 million.

Analysts said investors are grappling with uncertainty over when the highest US inflation in decades will ease significantly, how much the US Fed will have to raise interest rates in order to get it under control and how much the rate hikes will slow the economy.

Fed chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to give a speech on Friday morning at the central bank’s annual meeting. The Fed is holding its meeting following a heavy week of company and economic data that showed inflation is still squeezing the economy, but consumer spending remains resilient.

Among the actively traded stocks that suffered heavily yesterday, Ayala Land Inc. led the pack as it tumbled by 3.63 percent to P27.85 per share followed by  SM Prime Holdings, down 0.96 percent to finish at P36.20 per share.

This was followed by ICTSI which lost 0.32 percent to P184.20 per share followed by Security Bank which was down by 0.39 percent to end at P88.50.

Emperador Inc. was down by 3.72 percent to P20.70 per share; Puregold was also down by 2.38 percent to end at P34.90 per share; telco giant PLDT tumbled by 1.98 percent to close at P1,734 a piece.