Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 26) — Stocks dipped into red territory after Christmas, following the plunge in global markets.
Trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) closed at 7,450.01 points, a mere 29.7 points down from before the holidays. Only the mining and oil, and property sub-indices stayed in the green.
This followed the brutal plunge in the United States stock market in Christmas, where it shed a hefty 650 points. Asian markets followed suit.
READ: Asia stocks sink after Wall Street’s Christmas Eve plunge
“Philippine shares traded in the red, albeit to a lesser extent than the rest of Asia and the U.S. as the federal government partially shut down after Congress failed to pass spending legislation,” said Luis Limlingan from Regina Capital.
Gio Perez from Papa Securities noted that it was a quiet day in the market.
“As expected, it was a dull and quiet day for the market as the PSEi fell 29.70 points to close at 7,450.01. The index initially experienced weakness in the morning due to negativity from the plunge of U.S. markets over the long weekend, but steadily rose throughout the day,” Perez said.
He added that the Philippine stock exchange may continue to be hindered by developments in foreign markets, and that the upcoming holidays could continue to dampen investor appetite.
“With the PSEi continuing to be hindered by general sentiment abroad, accompanied by net foreign selling, we look to the initial support of the index in the area of 7,350. Furthermore, we might see more of the quiet trading we’ve seen today in the next two days with the upcoming holidays,” he said.
