Philippine shares slip on Wall Street sell-off

Philippine shares retreated on Wednesday as the local market came under pressure after the decline on Wall Street, which caused investor sentiment to turn sour.

The bellwether PSEi lost 101.19 points or 1.68% to 5,932.84 at the closing bell. The broader All Shares shed 42.02 points or 1.17% to 3,562.56.

“The massive retreat in US stock markets indexes in its last trading session created a domino effect and caused a sell off in almost every stock market in the world,” AAA Equities head of research Chris Mangun said.

“Buyers stepped aside and let sellers close positions at lower prices,” Mangun said.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 632.75 points, or 2.25%, to 27,500.56, the S&P 500 lost 95.14 points, or 2.78%, to 3,331.82 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 465.44 points, or 4.11%, to 10,847.69, according to a report by Reuters.

With the sell-off on Wall Street, the optimism on local shares proved to be fragile as investors were quick to reduce risks and take cash off the table, Mangun said.

Foreigners were net sellers at P543.03 million as they sold P2.538 billion worth of shares against P1.995 billion stocks bought.

More than 838.179 million shares valued at P5.104 billion, changed hands. Decliners led advancers, 118 to 73, and 48 issues were unchanged.

“We may see bargain hunters come back and pick up battered issues in the coming trading sessions,” Mangun said. -MDM, GMA News