Stocks tumble as new COVID-19 variant emerges

MANILA, Philippines — Local stocks fell yesterday alongside other markets in Asia after some European countries tightened curbs on travel and business following a surge in coronavirus infections and South Africa reported a new variant.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 90.83 points or 1.23 percent to close at 7,278.44, its lowest in over two weeks

The broader All Shares in­dex shed 41.88 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 3,871.39.

Total value turnover reached P9.974 billion. Market

breadth was overwhelmingly negative with 135 losers to 66 gainers, while 43 issues were unchanged.

“Asian markets drop sharply after health officials in South Af­rica announced that they have detected a new COVID-19 vari­ant rapidly spreading in some parts of the country. The new variant, designated as B.1.1.529, is still under investigation and tagged as a ‘variant under monitoring’ by the WHO,” AB Capital Securities said in a com­mentary.

“Investors are likely to shoot first and ask questions later un­til more is known,” Jeffrey Hal­ley of Oanda said in a report.

UTrade said the market is facing headwinds of news on spiking COVID cases abroad.

This has induced some level of uncertainty in investors while there is continued sup­port on the current progress of the economic recovery trajec­tory, UTrade said.

Investors already were more cautious after US Federal Re­serve officials said in notes from their October meeting released this week they foresaw the pos­sibility of responding to higher inflation by raising rates sooner than previously planned.

Financial markets had been encouraged by strong US cor­porate earnings and signs the global economy was rebound­ing from last year’s history-making decline in activity due to the pandemic.