SINGAPORE, June 21 — Philippine shares slumped 2 per cent on today and moved further into bear territory on persistent foreign investor selling, largely sparked by a weak peso which hit a 12-year low earlier this week.
The Philippine Stock Exchange PSEI Index hit its lowest since January 2017, shedding over 20 per cent from a record high of 9,078.37 touched on Jan 29. The last time the index fell over 20 per cent was between April 2015 and January 2016, when it shed 25 per cent.
The Relative Strength Index entered oversold territory, declining below 30 for the first time since April.
“We breached 7,200 support, so the likelihood is large that the market may retest the 7,000 mark in a month. We can get some rally towards the end of the year due to the traditional window dressing for the quarter-end," said Manny Cruz, an analyst with Asiasec Equities Inc.
The Philippine central bank raised interest rates after market hours yesterday and said it was ready to take further action to tame inflation and volatility in the peso. The peso fell 0.27 per cent today against the US dollar.
Other South-east Asian stock markets also fell. Thai shares declined as much as 1.4 per cent and were headed for a sixth session of loss in seven.
The baht slid as much as 0.5 per cent today to its lowest since mid-November, a day after the central bank held its benchmark interest rate and raised its forecasts for growth and exports this year.
Material and energy stocks fell, with PTT PCL down 1.5 per cent and PTT Global Chemical PCL 3.9 per cent lower.
Vietnam shares shed as much as 1.5 percent. Vingroup JSC fell 2.2 per cent, while Petrovietnam Gas Joint Stock Corp declined 3.8 per cent.
Malaysian shares fell 1.2 per cent to their lowest since February 2017 and were on track for a ninth consecutive session of decline.
Telecom stocks Axiata Group and Telekom Malaysia fell 4.1 per cent and 11.9 per cent, respectively.
Indonesian shares gave up early gains to trade marginally lower. Pabrik Kertas Tjiwi Kimia Tbk PT jumped 5 per cent to a record, while Astra International Tbk PT slipped 2.2 per cent. — Reuters
