MANILA, Aug. 17 (PNA) — Philippine equities extended their losses to a fourth day on Monday on the absence of new leads as investors unloaded with the first-half earnings season nearing its end.
The bellwether stock index fell 71.60 points to 7,336.84 from Friday’s 7,408.44 close.
All domestic counters sustained losses, with the mining and oil taking the worst hit, declining 5.47 percent due to heavy losses from Semirara Mining, Nickel Asia and Philex Mining.
Banco de Oro Unibank chief market strategist Jonathan Ravelas said the local bourse sustained its losses on the same concerns from last week.
PSEi has been on a downtrend, dragged by lower-than-expected corporate earnings and regional jitters over China’s surprise devaluation of the yuan.
“Ghost month,” which began last Aug. 14 and would end on Sept. 12, was also expected to temper stock market activity. For the Chinese, the “ghost month” is considered an unlucky period to open a new business and start new construction work or renovation repairs.
Volume of transactions reached 1.59 billion shares valued at PhP 6.25 billion.
Decliners outnumbered advancers, 144 to 38, while 43 issues were unchanged. (PNA)