(PhilStar) MANILA, Philippines — The stock market pulled back yesterday its biggest decline for the year as the twin impact of the index rebalancing and choppy trading in Asia weighed on investor sentiment.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed at 6,320.19, down 236.38 points or 3.61 percent, while the broader All Shares index slipped 82.99 points or 2.04 percent to end at 3,976.94.
Total value turnover reached P14.4 billion. Decliners outpaced advancers, 134 to 63, while 45 issues were unchanged.
Luis Limlingan of Regina Capital said shares were sold down at the close as tracker funds following the PSEi had to rebalance their portfolios to allow new entrants AC Energy and Converge to be included in their portfolios as several names were top sliced at the close of trading.
He said trading was also “choppy in the region” as investors digested the economic data releases in the US and the Federal Reserve’s plans to eventually reel in asset purchases.
Others sold on news with no surprise rate movements from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas meeting Thursday, Limlingan said.
The central bank’s Monetary Board kept its policy rate at a record low of two percent, which was in line with the market’s expectations.
Also, most Asian equity markets continued to ignore record highs hit elsewhere in the world as traders have been pointing to continued worries about the potential for new regulatory crackdowns in China and the fallout from the surging Delta variant of the new coronavirus in several countries in the region… Read More
