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.