Wall St debacle sends PSEi reeling

Philippine stocks tumbled yesterday, extending the rout to a second day as a selloff pummelled markets across the world.

The Philippines Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped 0.76 percent, or 65.58 points, to finish at 8,550.42, while the broader All Shares index fell 0.83 percent, or 42.51 points, to close at 5,027.91.

“Philippine markets could do little to withstand another round of selloff regionally, with the US recording its worst-one day point drop in history. It was down more than 1,500 points intraday before settling to 24,345.75,” Regina Capital Development Corp. business development head Luis Limlingan said.

Wall Street plunged in highly volatile trading, with the S&P 500 dropping 113.19 points, or 4.1 percent, to 2,648.94. The Dow notched its biggest intraday decline in history with a nearly 1,600 point drop.

With the heavy selling in the US, Asian stock markets saw sharp drops, with the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan plummeting as much as 4.1 percent in its worst fall since June 2016.

Locally, it was a second consecutive day that the market was covered in red.

The mining and oil sector saw the biggest casualty, losing 2.18 percent or 256.71 points, followed by holding firms and financials which plummeted 1.11 percent and 1.09 percent, respectively.