PSE index sinks in early trading, triggers circuit-breaker but rallies to end higher

March 13, 2020

The main Philippine share market sunk in morning trading on Friday, sparking the activation of its circuit breaker but after 1 15-minute pause, the key index rallied to end the day one percent higher.

But the peso went down to P51.03 against the US dollar from P50.85 on Thursday. Volume at the foreign exchange portal at the Bankers Association of the Philippines reached $1.416 billion from the previous day's $1.375 billion.

The Philippine Stock Exchange ( PSE) index settled at 5,793.94 points, up 57.67 points. A few mintes after trading begun at 9:30 am, the index plummeted 10.43 percent to 5,097.90. It was second straight day that the circuit breaker had been activated.

Trading resumed after 15 minutes and after one hour, the index pared its losses and until it hit positive territory.

But in the broader market, there were 139 losers, 87 gainers and 36 shares unchanged.

''The rally was led by blue chips,'' said Joey Roxas, president of Eagle Equities, in an interview at ANC.

SM Investment Corp. was the most active stock, gaining P41,50 to P831,50 followed by PLDT, up P49 to P1,029 and Globe Telecom, up P91 to P 1,830. 

Volume reached 950.23 million shares worth P10.7 billion from Thursday's 981.13 million shares valued at P7.96 billion. DMS