The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped more than 20 percent in the first half of the year, as the Covid-19 pandemic felled the market in the first quarter.
The main index closed at 6,207.72 points on June 30. Quarter on quarter, however, the PSEi rose by 16.7 percent. It has also rebounded by 34 percent from its lowest closing level for the year of 4,623.42.
“While the index may have recovered from oversold levels it has not been able to climb back to its pre-Covid-19 levels indicating that investors are still quite wary about the full impact of the virus on the economy and are concerned that the number of cases continue to increase despite the various community quarantine regimes we went through,” PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon said.
All sectoral indices were also down during the first half. The Services sector declined by 8 percent while the remaining sectors posted double-digit losses at the end of the semester, ranging from 15 percent to 35.6 percent.
Daily average trading value turnover was at P6.59 billion at the end of the first half, lower by 16 percent, from the P7.84 billion average turnover in the same period last year.
Foreign funds were net sellers at P68.44 billion, a reversal from the P21.26 billion net foreign buying registered at the end of June 2019.
Capital raised from the January-to-June period was P20.83 billion, mainly from one initial public offering, one follow-on offering, one stock rights offering and two private placements.
“After the successful IPO [initial public offering] of MerryMart Consumer Corp. and the listing by way of introduction of Altus Property Ventures, Inc. in June, we hope to have two to three more capital raising activities for the rest of the year. Hopefully, these two new listings will help prop up trading activity even as we await the listing of the first REIT [real estate investment trust] IPO,” Monzon said.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes
