On the day President Aquino delivered his last State of the Nation Address, red-colored numbers dominated the big board of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). Trading ended with losers edging out gainers 123 to 44, with 41 shares unchanged.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 1.5 percent, or 110.08 points, to close at 7,547.44 points, as other indices also fell. Total volume was 4.48 billion shares worth an anemic P5.51 billion.
Other subindices were also down, led by the All Shares index that lost 55.02 to 4,320.13; the Financials index dropped 30.37 to 1,659.17; the Industrial index declined 98.88 to 11,445.66; and the Property index shed 92.22 to 3,074.30.
“Something spooked the market again, as a new trading week opened. At this point, there just isn’t enough impetus to push prices past
their recent highs,” said Justino Calaycay Jr., trader at Accord Capital Equities Corp.
Traders said share prices plunged, as investors dumped shares of BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest lender, after it reported earnings below market expectations. Investors dumped BDO shares, which have a stronger weight in the PSEi. BDO was down 3 percent, or P3.40, to close at P101.50. Other than the BDO, there were no other impetus for traders to trade.
“Externally, news has started to feed fresh influences deemed generally negative—or at least not inducing optimism,” Calaycay said.
Most of the other actively traded shares also dropped. Semirara Mining and Power Corp. was down P1 to P119; Universal Robina Corp. lost P1 to P190.50; Globe Telecom Inc. was steady at P2,526; Manila Electric Co.; was up P3.20 to P298; and Ayala Land Inc. fell P1.10 to P37.80.