Philippines share prices closed 8.3 percent lower on Friday, their single biggest fall in more than 10 years, amid a global rout of world markets, dealers said. The composite index lost 190.64 points to 2,097.80. The drop was the worst since the onset of the Asian financial crisis in 1997.
It brought the composite index to its lowest level since it closed at 2,084.62 on June 29 last year. The all shares index lost 95.21 points, or 6.5 percent, to 1,371.08 points.
Turnover reached 2.74 billion shares worth 3.025 billion pesos (63.45 million dollars), with 135 issues down, seven up and 12 unchanged. The peso traded at 47.674 to the dollar. "There is panic selling. The market is really emotional," Jose Vistan of AB Capital Securities Inc told AFP.
"It's not just the US anymore. The problem has spread to Europe and emerging economies," he said. He remarked that "those other central banks cut their interest rates. We didn't have the same sort of stimulus that the other economies did." Erwin Balita of SB Equities told Dow Jones Newswires: "What can we do? We're at the mercy of global developments."
Dealers put the support level at 2,100 points. Philippine Long Distance Telephone plunged 8.6 percent to 2,245 pesos. Ayala Corp dropped 9.2 percent to 226 pesos and unit Bank of the Philippine Islands ended 8.6 percent down to 37 pesos. San Miguel A lost seven percent to 48.50 pesos, while its B shares closed 6.9 percent down to 47 pesos.
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