LOCAL SHARES fell on Tuesday, as the attack on key Saudi oil facilities last Saturday is now expected to prod Philippine inflation through higher oil prices.

The 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) plunged 0.81% or 64.67 points to close at 7,932.23, ending back-to-back gains since Friday. The broader all shares index similarly lost 0.59% or 28.85 points to finish at 4,794.20.

“Geopolitical risks related to the recent attack on Saudi Aramco, which also led to US markets closing in the red last night, prevented the PSEi from inching past the 8,000 mark today,” Papa Securities Corp. Sales Associate Gabriel Jose F. Perez said in an e-mail.

Two major oil facilities of Saudi Arabian firm Aramco were attacked on Saturday morning, halving output of the world’s biggest oil producer and knocking out about 5.7 million barrels a day or five percent of global output.

Oil prices have since soared to their highest levels in more than three decades.

“The Saudi attacks have resulted in a drastic drop in oil supply and consequently pushed oil prices up. As a heavy importer of oil, the Philippines will have to bear the brunt of these higher prices which will push our CPI (consumer price index) up,” PNB Securities, Inc. President Manuel Antonio G. Lisbona said via text.

Bloomberg reported that Aramco believes less than half of the plant’s capacity can be restored quickly, but analysts say full resumption could be “weeks or even months away.”

The PSEi joined overall negativity abroad in the wake of the Saudi attacks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite index lost 0.52%, 0.31% and 0.28%, respectively.

In Asia, the Shanghai SE Composite, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and India’s S&P BSE Sensex index gave up 1.74%, 1.23% and 1.57%, respectively.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Topix indices, however, climbed 0.06% and 0.29%, respectively, while South Korea’s Kospi added 0.01%.

Back home, the industrial counter was the lone sectoral index that gained, adding 0.08% or 9.72 points to close 11,061.65.

The rest declined, led by financials which dumped 2.27% or 41.7 points to 1,787.87. Mining and oil dropped 2.17% or 208.23 points to 9,385.40, services went down 0.94% or 15.37 points to 1,606.90, holding firms shed 0.64% or 51.33 points to 7,855.57, while property slipped 0.29% or 12.06 points to 4,056.10.

Turnover remained thin at 720.068 million shares worth P5.21 billion, compared to the previous session’s 942.23 million worth P4.97 billion.

Stocks that lost trumped those that gained 126 to 73, while 45 names ended flat. Foreign investors turned net sellers at P214.15 million, against Monday’s net purchases of P130.40 million.

Fourteen of the 20 most active stocks ended in negative territory, including Phinma Energy, Corp. (down 6.69%), Nickel Asia Corp. (down 4.43%) and BDO Unibank, Inc. (down 3.51%). — Arra B. Francia

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