Technical glitch halts PSE trading

Technical problems hounded trading on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Monday, halting trades an hour before the noon break Monday.

 

Trading was halted as of 11:01 a.m. but the PSE has yet to release an official statement, Niña B. Zabella, assistant head for public investor relations department, told GMA News Online.

 

On its official Twitter account, MetroBank Group's First Metro Securities Inc. said the "PSE halted due to technical problems."
 

11:06 am PSE halted due to technical problems

— First Metro Sec (@firstmetrosec) May 5, 2014

The bellwether PSEi was down 2.70 points or 0.04 percent to 6,740.11 as of 11:01 a.m. The broader All Shares index was down 9.36 points or 0.23 percent to 4,059.58.

 

Though volume was still thin in the morning trade, the market's weak performance – before the PSE computers stopped – was due to negative foreign news, Angping & Associates Securities Inc. Rafael Supangco said in a separate phone interview with GMA News Online.

 

"There's a risk-off sentiment due to ongoing tension in Ukraine and the weak China PMI data that came out," he said.

 

Activity in China's manufacturing sector contracted for a fourth consecutive month in April as the final reading of the HSBC/Markit purchasing managers' index (PMI) for April came in at 48.1, lower than a preliminary reading of 48.3 but up slightly from an eight-month low of 48.0 in March, Reuters reported.

 

Pro-Russian militants stormed a Ukrainian police station in Odessa on Sunday and freed nearly 70 fellow activists as the country's leaders lamented a police force they said was widely undermined by graft or collaboration with separatists, the wire service said in a separate report. – VS, GMA News