That’s nearly a 41% drop in the Philippine Stock Exchange index!
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Related Story:Â The Philippine Stock Exchange Reopens Amid the Coronavirus Outbreak
The ongoing Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak has brought on more bad than good— from businesses being forced to close to tourism rates dropping, limited access to basic needs and transportation, lowered morale, and so much more— all throughout the enhanced quarantine. And with the growing number of positive cases from not only Luzon but even Visayas and Mindanao, the situation doesn’t look like it’s getting any better.
Another sector affected by all this includes the Philippine Stock Market (PSEi). All throughout the outbreak, the PSE index has been dropping, and it ended on March 16 with a mere 5,335.37 points. On March 19, the PSE index closed lower by 13.3% or 4,623— its lowest level since January 26, 2012. At some point that day, it even dropped by nearly 25% moments after reopening from a 2-day suspension. This was reported by Bloomberg to be the “largest fall on record for the benchmark”.
Overall, the government’s struggle to contain the Covid-19 has caused the PSE index to drop by almost 41% since the beginning of 2020, resulting in a whopping loss of P1.16 trillion in market value as on March 19.
Losses and Gains
During the shortened trading day, only 8 companies gained, while 211 companies lost value. ATN Holdings was the biggest loser with over 49% in losses, and a current stock price of just P0.33 apiece. On the other hand, I-Remit— a fund transfer and remittance company— gained over 28%.
Actively traded stocks on Thursday include SM Investments (down 9.3%), BDO Unibank (down 22.7%), Ayala Land (down 20.3%), Ayala Corporation (down 22.8%), and SM Prime (down 5.3%).
In addition, volume turnover was at 1.2 billion shares with a value of P9.4 billion. On the other hand, foreign buying was at P4.3 billion, while foreign selling was at P6.7 billion.
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