Share prices fell sharply on Monday, the first trading day of August, with the main index dropping to the 5,700-point level after President Duterte’s announcement that the National Capital Region will revert to a more stringent quarantine status.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped 212.53 points, or 3.6 percent, to close at 5,715.92 points.
It was the lowest close of the main index since May 28, when the PSEi ended at P5,570.22 points, according to PSE data.
“President Duterte has granted the appeal of the medical community to reimpose strict lockdown measures in Metro Manila and other nearby provinces as the country continues to see a surge of Covid-19 cases,” Luis Limlingan, managing director of Regina Capital Development Corp., said.
“Duterte approved the return of Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal and Bulacan under the stricter MECQ [modified enhanced community quarantine] from August 4 to 18 during a meeting last night with his Cabinet. This is after Duterte announced that the Metro would remain under GCQ [general community quarantine] for two more weeks last Friday.”
The main index already opened weak at 5,816.23 points and went as low as 5,695.53 before slightly recovering at the close.
Total volume of shares reached 1.63 billion worth P6.58 billion. Foreign investors were net sellers at P1.63 billion.
Losers edged gainers 154 to 51 and 39 shares were unchanged.
All other sub-indices shed points led by the broader All Shares index that lost 101.81 points to close at 3,398.46, the Financials index fell 42.57 to 1,096.56, the Industrial index declined 122.27 to 7,349.82, the Holding Firms index decreased 212.91 to 5,938.47 and the Property index plunged 149.02 to 2,764.01.
SM Investments Corp. was the day’s most actively traded and it fell P30 to close at P860, mall operator SM Prime Holdings Inc. dropped P1.45 to P28.55, BDO Unibank Inc. lost P3 to P85, Emperador Inc. dropped P0.04 to P9.06, Ayala Corp. was down P26.50 and Ayala Land Inc. shed P2 to P31.30. VG Cabuag
Image credits: Nonie Reyes