Financial stocks were among the poor performers in the counter on Monday as the local bourse welcomed the week with a bloodbath.
Shares in financial sector declined by 2.07 percent, or 24.63 points, to settle at 1,164.04. This, as Philippine Stock Exchange index dipped by 2.26 percent, or 128.62 points, to land on 5,572.09 while the wider All Shares were down 1.73 percent, or 59.53 points, to conclude at 3,386.30.
Holding firms fell by 2.90 percent to 5,383.56; industrial skidded 2.34 percent to 7,299.77; mining and oil dropped 1.81 percent to 4,623.39; property slipped 1.64 percent to 2,873.97; and services decreased by 1.61 percent to 1,351.65.
“The financial sector ended on red territory today as the overall investor sentiment for the Philippine market was negative today,” said Timson Securities Inc. trader Darren Pangan.
Pangan explained that the local bourse took cues from markets in the United States.
“The local market tracked the decline of US markets last week as we remained closed last Friday due to the Labor Day holiday,” he said. In Wall Street, Dow Jones, S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index slid by 2.56 percent, 2.81 percent and 3.20 percent, respectively.
Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) shares were the most active among the financial stocks, registering turnover value of P248.52 million. This was followed by BDO Unibank Inc. and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) at P246.14 million and P198.35 million, respectively. Metrobank recorded the steepest decline as well, ending at P37.05 apiece after falling by 5.12 percent. Philippine National Bank came in second with 3.99-percent drop to P22.85 each.
Shares in BDO dipped by 2.08 percent to P98.90; BPI, 0.85 percent, P58; East West Banking Corp., 1.15 percent, P7.76; Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., 0.6 percent, P16.50; Security Bank Corp., 1.35 percent, P102; and Union Bank of the Philippines, 0.74 percent, P53.50.
China Banking Corp. shares, meanwhile, were flat at P19.74 apiece.
“Possible catalysts to look out for the sector include the lifting of the enhanced community quarantine among our major cities, as well as management guidance reports for the coming quarters of the year 2020,” Pangan added.
Overall, Ayala Land Inc. was the most active with value of shares traded amounting to P408.55 million. Shares in Discovery World Corp. was the biggest winner with an 18.18-percent growth while Panasonic Manufacturing Philippines was the top loser with a 10.93-percent decline.
“We may see it [local bourse] bounce higher tomorrow [Tuesday] unless investors lose more optimism overnight,” said AAA Equities Head of Research Christopher Mangun, noting that last-minute buying trimmed the market losses on Monday.