PSEi posts steep losses as recession fears rout global markets

The Philippine Stock Exchange index posted steep losses on Friday, extending its decline to a fourth straight day as recession fears routed global markets. The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index plummeted 210.14 points or 5.13 percent to 3,885.96 while the all shares plunged 134.24 points or 4.60 percent to 2,782.30. Friday's losses placed the market in the bear's territory, a stark reversal of its positive performance in the early part of the third quarter when the benchmark index hit a new historic high at 4,550.53 (August 1, 2011). Market breadth was negative with 166 losers trouncing 13 gainers and 15 stocks that closed unchanged. All six sub-indices retreated, led by Mining & OIl's 9.87-percent slide and Property's 6.08-percent fall. Volume traded reached 13.87 billion valued at P8.19 billion. "The US is wrestling with its debt concerns and poor growth while Europe's sovereign debt crisis threatens to bankrupt Greece and place Italy in a similar position. For the moment, market performance hinges largely on global issues but discerning investors should watch oversold stocks careful for signs of recovery," AB Capital said in a market note posted online. Overnight, US stocks continued to fall with the Dow tumbling 3.51 percent and Nasdaq slumping 3.25 percent. Despite pledging new economic stimulus, the statement of the US Federal Reserve that the world's largest economy would have to contend with "significant downside risks" worsened the anxiety of global investors who were already nervous over the dismal debt situation in another traditional growth engine - Europe. As of mid-trade Friday, save for Indonesia's Jakarta Composite, all other main indices in Asian markets were trading at a discount led by the over 4-percent losses of South Korea's Kospi. In the local bourse all five most active stocks for the day closed in the red. Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. "A", the session's top traded, shed P0.13 or 10.08 percent at P1.16. Telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. lost P88 or 3.93 percent at P2,150. Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., one of the country's largest lenders in terms of assets, dropped P5.85 or 8.61 percent to P62.05. Semirara Mining Corp. dipped P24.60 or 12.32 percent to P175. Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. slipped P1.10 or 2.19 percent to P49. - CMA/OMG, GMA News