By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
LOCAL STOCKS tumbled on Thursday, sending the main index back below the 7,000 level alongside the global equity sell-off that saw Wall Street indices wipe out their gains for the year.
The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) spiraled down 2.28% or 162.58 points to close at 6,966.84. The main index hit an intraday low of 6,941.10 before paring down losses by the end of the day’s session.
The broader all-shares index likewise plunged 1.85% or 81.07 points to 4,281.24.
“This onslaught is mainly brought by the US market sell-off. Dow, S&P and Nasdaq have recently entered correction territory followed by Asian markets also. This is brought by weaker sales of houses and mixed earnings result, with Philippine equities affected by this negative sentiment,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Research Associate Piper Chaucer E. Tan said via text.
Wall Street indices tanked overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 2.41% or 608.01 points to 24,583.42. The S&P 500 index shed 3.09% or 84.59 points to 2,656.10, while the Nasdaq Composite index declined 4.43% or 329.14 points to 7,108.40.
“With global growth slowing, trade tensions escalating, and a string of weaker-than-expected Q3 earnings reports from US industrials, it was just a matter of time before equity markets worldwide finally dipped,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message.
Asian markets were not spared from the bloodbath, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan retreating by almost 2% on Thursday.
Back home, all sectoral indices moved to negative territory, led by property which gave up 2.64% or 92.92 points to 3,423.68. Financials followed with a 2.52% or 40.44-point decline to 1,562.08.
Industrials slumped 2.37% or 253.49 points to 10,432.05; holding firms slipped 1.93% or 134.70 points to 6,811.83; services went down 1.49% or 22.06 points to 1,457.97; while mining and oil fell 0.41% or 39.02 points to 9,426.18.
Decliners were about four times as many as advancers, 146 to 38, while 34 names remained unchanged.
Some 870.53 million issues switched hands valued at P5.50 billion, climbing from the previous session’s P4.64-billion turnover.
Net foreign outflows ballooned to P1.12 billion on Thursday, rising from the previous session’s P700.05-million net sales.
The list of 20 most actively traded stocks showed 16 losers, led by Universal Robina Corp. which released its earnings results on Thursday. The Gokongwei-led firm said attributable profit declined by 19% to P6.8 billion in the nine months ending September, blaming lower operating income and the weaker peso for the results.

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