The issue of anomalous flood control projects continue to affect investor sentiment, resulting in the negative close of the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) to 6,027.12 points or down by 0.25 percent.
This marks the third time the PSEi closed below the 6,100 level in September, and the lowest since the 6,077.82 points of April 10 this year.
“The local market declined for a fifth straight day as dismay over the Philippine flood control projects’ corruption issues continued to dampen sentiment,” Philstocks Financial Inc. said in a market report.
“The negative cues from Wall Street and the depreciation of the (Philippine) peso below the 58.00 level against the US dollar also contributed to the drop.”
Meanwhile, the All Shares index went down by 0.24 percent to 3,644.80 points.
Half of the sectoral gauges tracked the PSEi, namely Property, 1.55 percent; Services, 0.88 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.12 percent.
On the other hand, Mining and Oil rose 0.71 percent; Financials, 0.66 percent, and Industrial, 0.22 percent.
Volume reached 1.66 billion shares, amounting to P5.5 billion.
Decliners led advances at 110 to 82, while 60 shares were unchanged.
To recall, European Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECCP) Executive Director Florian Gottein told journalists on the sidelines of the first day of the two-day Arangkada Philippines investment forum in Marriott Manila in Pasay City on September 25 that it is still a wait-and-see stance among their member-investors, caused by the flood control project scandal.
“But we trust in the government and the responsible government organizations to investigate and immediately act on the findings as well,” he said.
Gottein said the issue is indirectly affecting some of their members who are involved in the production of construction materials.
“Because some of those projects that are being put on hold, they have already experienced a reduction in sales,” he said, but clarified that the companies are not involved in government projects.
The ECCP head also noted that while anomalies in the flood control projects are among the factors for investors’ concerns, they are more worried about the ease of doing business.
PIA PHOTO