PSEi plunges over 3% in early trades as overseas markets drop

Philippine shares plunged by more than 3 percent in early trading Thursday as investors, cued by the negative performance of overseas markets, continued to liquidate their portfolios.

 

The main PSEi fell by 237.55 points or 3.62 percent to 6,319.10 as of 9:47 a.m.

 

"Again, we're taking guidance from overseas markets,” Arlysa Narciso, analyst at AB Capital Securities Inc., told GMA News Online. “The market's behavior today is due to the performance of Wall Street and the negative start of Asian markets," she said.

 

The downward trend in global equities "stemmed from worries of a possible gradual withdrawal of the bond buying program by the Fed," she added.

 

Reuters reported that global stocks, commodities, bonds and currencies have been roiled in recent weeks on concerns the Fed could scale back its massive stimulus measures in the coming months.

 

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 118.61 points, or 0.78 percent, at 15,003.41. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 12.85 points, or 0.79 percent, at 1,613.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 35.25 points, or 1.03 percent, at 3,401.70.

 

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei stock average opened Thursday down 1.9 percent, extending a sell-off that began on May 23 on worries over slowing growth in China and the Fed's policy outlook.

 

Australian shares fell 0.3 percent after touching a five-month low on Wednesday while South Korean shares opened down 0.3 percent.

 

US jobs data and Standard & Poor's revision of its outlook of the US to stable from negative drove speculation about US Fed scaling back its $80-billion-a-month bond buying program, or quantitative easing. — With Reuters/VS, GMA News