(By Lito Gagni)
The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index today sank on the Ukraine episode, wiping away gains it accumulated after a tepid opening, with losing shares almost four times more than gainers, as it closed at 7,212.23 points, down by a huge 151.98 points or 2.06 percent.
Looking toward a gain in mid-session after a slow start that indicated a positive development, shares tumbled and headed south as news of the Ukraine invasion filtered into the exchange an hour before the close of trading, wiping out a high 7,383.90 point index mark and crashed to a low of 7,179.63 points before recovering on bargain hunting.
The Russian invasion which Vladimir Putin said is aimed at demilitarising Ukraine has led to a massive sell-off of selected stocks as investors were spooked by the possible economic repercussions of the Ukraine episode that has already resulted in oil breaching the $100-per barrel price.
Market bellwether SM Investments and other blue chips were headed to positive territories until the Ukraine news led to their prices crashing down. SM went up to a high of P905 after a slow opening at P880 but it immediately crashed to P865 before bargain buyers nudged the shares to P871, for a P9 loss.
Other blue chips that got hit included Jollibee which rose to a high of P246.80 and a low of P234 before closing P10.20 lower to P236 , Dito CME which closed at P6.14, down by 46 centavos after a high and low of P6.85 and P5.96;Globe which went up to P2,724 , sank to P82,610 and ended the day P4 lower at P2,698.
Only the mining and oil sub-index survived the bloodbath, posting a 0.13 point gain as the industrials dropped to minus 2.85 percent, property index down by 2.60 percent, financials down by 1.93 percent, services, down by 1.86 percent and holding firms down by 1.62 percent. NickelAsia was the lone gainer in the Top 20 active stocks , posting an 11-centavo advance to P7.75.
Value turnover amounted to P9.7938 billion with 43 gainers, 168 losers and 34 shares unchanged. Market players said that the Ukraine episode may trigger further weakness in the market due to the effects of the event. In fact, brokers pointed to the immediate surge in oil prices which affect the pricing of local gasoline prices leading to an inflationary spiral.
