By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
THE Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slumped to its lowest level in 15 months Tuesday, June 19, as the trade war between two of the world’s largest economies escalated, while analysts back home looked toward the local central bank’s policy meeting.
The PSEi dropped 1.36% or 101.50 points to 7,312.61 on Tuesday. It reached an intraday low of 7,253.12, the worst since the index hit a trough of 7,222.15 during the March 27, 2017 session. The broader all-shares index also gave up 1.08% or 49.33 points to 4,481.71.
“Market continued its correction today as most of the regional markets were down due to the tariff that the US President Trump would like to impose on China and other trading partners. If the global growth is affected, definitely it will cascade down to the emerging markets,” Diversified Securities, Inc. trader Aniceto K. Pangan said in a phone interview on Tuesday.
Markets abroad also stayed in negative territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.41% or 103.01 points to 24,987.47, while the S&P 500 index went down 0.21% or 5.91 points to 2,773.75. The Nasdaq Composite index was flat with a 0.01% increase or 0.65 point to 7,747.02.
Asian markets were left bleeding on Tuesday, mostly weighed down by companies supplying stocks to multinational tech firm Apple, Inc. as investors digested the effects of Mr. Trump’s additional tariffs.
Sectoral indices back home all ended in the red, led by holding firms which declined 1.73% or 128.30 points to 7,251.25 and services which likewise lost 1.73% or 25.52 points to 1,444.42. Mining and oil shed 1.63% or 161.06 points to 9,683.13; financials dropped 1.40% or 25.80 points to 1,816.03; property slipped 0.82% or 29.59 points to 3,558.24; while industrials was down 0.06% or 6.75 points to 10,554.03.
Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan also noted cautiousness ahead of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) policy meeting Wednesday, June 20.
“Many are debating whether the BSP will leave policy rates unchanged, keeping the overnight reverse [repurchase] rate at 3.25% and the overnight deposit rate at 2.75%. This is because overall inflation has been creeping up, driven mostly by supply side factors and TRAIN. The peso has also weakened, touching P53.50 to the [US dollar] as a result of this,” Mr. Limlingan said in a mobile message.
Some 909.21 million issues switched hands Tuesday, June 19, for a turnover of P6.89 billion, slightly lower than the previous session’s P7.75 billion.
Decliners outpaced advancers, 125 to 70, while 47 names were unchanged.
Net foreign outflows slimmed to P867.92 million from Monday’s P1.29 billion.
Moving forward, Diversified Securities’ Mr. Pangan placed the benchmark index’s support level in the coming days between 7,100 to 7,200.

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