Bomb scare sends stocks plunging 46 pts

Stocks tumbled on the first day of trading this year as the bomb scare over the holiday weekend kept investors, whose moves have been restrained by President Estrada’s impeachment trial, on the sidelines once more.

From the moment the opening bell rang, the composite index steadily lost steam, plummeting 46.01 points or 3.08 percent to finish at 1,448.49, wiping out the mild, window-dressing-led two-day surge to close the past year.

It was the Phisix’s biggest drop since it crashed 66.69 points or 4.5 percent last May 22, following a similar series of bomb attacks that wee blamed on Muslim extremists at the height of the hostage crisis in Mindanao.

Eagle Equities president Joey Roxas said the market’s downfall was more in reaction to the bombing spree last Saturday which renewed jitters on the country’s political instability, the resurgence of terrorism, and the dreaded declaration of a military-led martial rule.

He added, however, that the decline was mitigated by the holiday break. "It could have been worse had there been trading the next day." Last May, the market immediately reacted when the bomb blasts hit crowd-drawers SM Megamall and Ayala Center.

The resumption of the impeachment trial after an 11-day break, where new twists and witnesses are expected, is also going to provide the backdrop for the market’s direction. The market has seemingly shrugged off the announcement of the smaller players’ oil price rollback effective this month.

All counters sank, led by the big drop in finance and property stocks. A mere six issues – led by the Canadian insurers Sun Life and Manulife – posted gains while 63 stocks suffered a sell-off. The prices of the remaining 20 traded issues were unchanged.

Turnover was also shaved, thinning down to P379.761 million, from P5.418 billion, as the big-moneyed foreign investors stayed away from the market.

The day’s biggest trades were scattered among the blue chips, Ayala Land, SM Prime, Meralco B, San Miguel B, PLDT, Metrobank and ABS-CBN’s PDRs, all ending at lower quotes.

Only six issues made it to the greenfield, with Sun Life gaining P50 to P1,330 and Manulife moving up P35 to P1,565. These two heavyweight stocks managed to pull the All-Shares index out of trouble, inching up 0.46 point to 830.39.

Other gainers were second-liners: Subic-based electronics maker Active Alliance, telecom firm Liberty Telecoms, property developer Universal Rightfield and tech stock iVantage Corp.