Share prices ended lower Monday as investors shared sentiments of overseas peers over the threat of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was down 77.56 points to 7,200.88, a 1.07 percent drop.
The broader all shares index was down 33.26 points to 3,838.13, a 0.86 percent drop.
Losers edged gainers 150 to 57 with 45 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P28.02 billion, including the P1.33 billion preferred share sale of A. Brown Co. Inc.
The peso closed at 50.39 to the dollar, up from 50.43 on Friday. It opened at 50.50, an intraday low, and hit a high of 50.33. Trading turnover reached $819.3 million.
The Thai baht dipped 0.4 percent and was on course to fall for the seventh straight day as the country also imposed border curbs, raising concerns about its struggling economy as hopes were pinned on a tourism revival to drive a rebound, Reuters reported.
“If Omicron anxiety turns out to have been a storm in a teacup, then perhaps that selloff (in the baht) was overdone and we can anticipate some decent bounce there too,” Robert Carnell, regional head of Asia-Pacific research at ING, wrote.
SB Equities Inc. said the market joined “another regional sell off as uncertainty over the effects of the Omicron coronavirus variant continued to spook investors and dampen risk appetite.”
“With attention also focused on MSCI rebalancing activity ahead of Tuesday’s public holiday, the benchmark index traded in the red all session and plunged as much as 3.83 percent intraday,” it said.
Most actively traded Monde Nissin Corp. was down P0.58 to P17.02. AC Energy Corp. was down P0.40 to P11.28. BDO Unibank Inc. was down P3 to P124. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was up P0.80 to P37.40. Globe Telecom Inc. was down P118 to P3,282. Ayala Land Inc. was down P1.70 to P34.50. Ayala Corp. was down P38 to P836. Universal Robina Corp. was up P0.80 to P133. Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions Inc. was up P1.85 to P32. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was up P2.40 to P197.90. – Ruelle Castro
