PSEi down 3.53%  at noon recess

Plagued by a slew of market-moving news, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi), nose-dived during the morning session.

On top of the flight of hot money from Philippine equities to improving yields of US debt papers, the market was besieged by losses on Wall Street over the weekend and the blast of still undetermined origin that damaged at least a handful of condominium units in upscale mixed-used development Serendra in Taguig.

The main PSEi plummeted by 247.04 points or 3.52 percent to end the morning session at 6,774.91. The broader all-shares index also went down 2.48 percent to 4,185.49.

“Market is down on a shift of investor sentiment towards US bonds, as their yields are rising,” said Krizia Syquiatco, analyst at PAPA Securities Corp.

Speculations that the US would taper off its bond-buying stimulus have increased yields of US fixed-income securities, the analyst said.

Syquiatco noted local and international news have added to investors risk-aversion and made firmer their decision to turn into safe-haven US Treasuries.

“News are additional reasons for them to go away. It's really shifting back to US bonds, as foreign fund managers could be thinking that we've participated enough,” she noted.

In an earlier interview with GMA News Online, Asiasec Equities Corp. market strategist Manny Cruz said the 208.96-point decline in the Dow Jones industrial average Friday (Saturday in Manila) pulled investor sentiment down.

The blow to the property index, meanwhile, was due to the plunge in share prices of behemoth Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) following Friday's explosion at its upscale mixed-use development Serendra in Bonifacio Global City, he added. Three people died after the blast of still unknown origin ripped off the wall of a condominium unit and dropped it on a delivery van that was passing by.

All indices were down, with the property index leading the decline, shedding 133.08 points or 4.61 percent. ALI shares declined 6.66 percent to fetch P31.5 apiece by the noon recess.

Losers overwhelmed gainers, 119 to 34, while 31 issues were unchanged.

Curz said the PSEi may re-test a stronger support of 6,310 in the coming days. — VS/BM, GMA News