The stock market fell Wednesday on profit-taking to snap a five-day rally, with mining issues taking another hit after an anti-mining crusader accepted the job of running the environment department.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index lost 10.86 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,756.37 on a value turnover of P7.7 billion. Losers beat gainers, 108 to 86, with 44 issues unchanged.
Shares of mining companies plunged a second day. Metro Pacific Investments Corp. dropped 4.5 percent to P6.60, while unit Philex Mining Corp., the biggest miner, tumbled 10.9 percent to P7.14.
Regina Lopez, managing director of ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation Inc., said Tuesday she accepted the offer to head the environment and natural resources department.
The mining and oil index fell 7.3 percent on Wednesday, the steepest drop in 10 months, after closing 4.1 percent lower in the previous session. Duterte offered the post to Lopez on Monday.
Semirara Mining and Power Corp., the largest coal miner, skidded 7.9 percent to P119.50, while Nickel Asia Corp., the largest producer in which Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. holds a 26-percent stake, slumped 4.6 percent to P4.80.
The rest of Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday as Britain heads into a high-stakes referendum on its future in the European Union, after the head of the Federal Reserve warned a vote to leave could hammer world markets.
Following a three-day rally fuelled by hopes the country will stay in the economic bloc, analysts said traders were taking a step back to see what happens in Thursday’s poll.
While bookmakers say there is an 80-percent chance the country will stick with the status quo, opinion polls predict a dead heat, with about 10 percent of voters yet to decide which way to go.
“It would be logical for markets to begin losing momentum and volume while they wait on the outcome of the Brexit vote,” Ric Spooner, chief market analyst in Sydney at CMC Markets, said in an e-mail to clients. With Bloomberg