Concerns about the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) surfaced online as it plummeted amid the release of the partial and unofficial results of the 2022 national elections.
As of 10:30 a.m., former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is leading among presidential aspirants based on the Commission on Elections‘ transparency server which started releasing results on Monday evening.
The son of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos Sr. has over 30 million votes.
Marcos Jr’s running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, is also leading the vice presidential race with over 31 million votes.
Last March, a Bloomberg poll of investors and analysts showed that Marcos’ rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, was the market’s preferred candidate to facilitate the country’s economic recovery amid deficits and debt pile with a score of 106.
Marcos ranked at the near bottom with a score of 46.
The country’s economy was reportedly among the fastest-growing in the world in the last decade until the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in numerous job losses and triggered a record contraction.
Reports said that PSEi opened the trading day on Tuesday down 1.89% before plummeting by over 3% forty minutes later. The broader All Shares index was also in the red.
Luis Limlingan of Manila-based brokerage firm Regina Capital said that the election results would be one of the major market drivers in the coming days.
“The results of the presidential election will also be in focus for [the] majority of the week,” he said in a market commentary.
Following this development, some Filipinos air their concerns over the stock market after seeing it amid the release of the elections’ partial and unofficial results.
“Ang baba na ng stock market PH, tumataas na rin ang dollar. Alam mo ang ibig sabihin non kaibigan? Bumabagsak ang ekonomiya natin,” a Twitter user claimed.
“And if you still think not everything is political, the drop we see in the stock market (caused by the unofficial results of the election) will affect our economy and devalue our currency. A higher exchange rate means our merch will cost more than we can afford,” another online user tweeted.
“Walang gustong makinig. Simula pa lang ito. Heard some companies are laying off too,” a Filipino from Facebook claimed.
Another Facebook user posted that “blue chips” in the index are also in red.
A blue-chip refers to an established and well-recognized corporation with a strong history of sound financial performance.
Some of these are Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC), Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (MBT), Puregold Price Club, Inc (PGOLD), Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC), and Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions, Inc (CNVRG), among others.
“Less Investors = Less Trading = Depreciating Peso Value = Expensive Trading for Oil = Increased Gas and Diesel price = Increased Transportation Cost = Increased Price for Commodities = Increased Cost of Living,” Facebook user Angelo Paraiso claimed.
Historically, PSEi trends higher during an election year.
A Twitter user noted that it was “different” in the last presidential election.
different story in 2016 pic.twitter.com/fVrqOYY5ek
— JP (@dumidyeypee) May 10, 2022
In May 2016, the Philippine stocks were reported to have surged amid the unofficial release of results showing then-Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte headed for victory.
