Philippine Stocks drop in still volatile trade

The days' market - March 02, 2007
With the equities market very undecided, it took its cue from US markets which fell 34.29 points overnight after a modest rebound the previous trading session. World equities markets were still volatile as major asian markets were mixed (Hongkong was up while japan was down by 2pm Mla time). Even the US DJIA was down more than 200 points at one point but just closed with limited losses.


PSEI previous close 3,190.12 (March 01, 2007)

time-----------down-----------PSEi
9:31----------36.31------------3153.81
9:32----------46.29
9:33----------50.96
9:34----------53.13
9:37----------------------PhP 48.710 to $ 1.00
9:40----------79.17
9:41----------80.71
9:43----------84.43

Within the first 15 minutes, another wave of panic selling prevailed and the market reached its day's low. The peso was also generally weaker against the US dollar.

The market moves in a narrow range in the next hour.

9:50----------82.43
9:58----------72.92
10:00--------70.32
10:01--------68.60
10:03--------67.44
10:07--------------------PhP 48.715 to $ 1.00
10:10--------71.70
10:14--------74.92
10:23--------69.02
10:27--------64.33
10:33--------------------PhP 48.715
10:39--------71.51
10:42--------72.89
10:43--------73.34
10:50--------74.32
10:54--------66.23
11:00--------70.88
11:00--------------------PhP 48.713
11:01---------71.02
11:03---------73.03
11:08--------75.97
11:17---------66.61
11:19---------65.27

The market now tries to recover some of its losses .
11:21--------62.57
11:25--------60.88
11:28--------56.36
11:32---------------------Php 48.714
11:36--------49.00
11:37--------46.86
11:40--------38.10
11:42--------35.39------------3154.73

The PSEi reaches its day's high but selling accelerates as some investors squared off positions ahead of the weekend to avoid any more surprises.

11:54-------39.34
11:58-------47.23
12:01-------49.78------------3140.34
Market Close.

Decliners swamped gainers 115 to 17.
Value turnover was lower at PhP 4.22 bn


Sectors week-on-week

---------------last week----------this week------down---------% down
PSEi-----------3389.37---------3140.34-------249.3----------7.34%
Holdings------2041.77--------1865.76-------176.01--------8.62
Industrial-----4546.81--------4213.41-------333.40-------7.33
Property------1521.86---------1383.38-------138.48-------9.09
Financial------966.15----------905.26---------60.69--------6.30
M-O-----------5386.18----------4965.16-------421.02-------7.81




The week's biggest index issue decliners

FLI -15.96%
BPC -15.12%
BEL -14.81%
BDO -11.20%
PX -10.87%
MERB -10.69%
MEG -10.61%
EPCI -10.36%
MER -10.13%
SMPH -9.80%


The market is now just up by around 5.0% for the year after gaining more than 13% at one point. Some issues are now at more attractive prices and may be ripe for the picking in the next few days once a sense normalcy is established and volatility tempered.

It is important to keep in sight the reasons why you are investing in the stock market so it can guide your decisions in times like these. Stay in line with your investment objectives.

The weekend may hopefully calm the tension in world equities market.