Following a downtrend in the international market, the Philippine Stock Exchange index plummeted by 118.95 points or 1.77 percent to 6,582.86 due to the negative sentiment from the US markets overnight after a worse-than-expected inflation data.

Philstocks Financial Inc. assistant manager for research and online engagement Claire Alviar noted that Wall Street "reacted negatively to the August inflation data as this may push the Federal Reserve to be more aggressive on monetary tightening."

"If this happens, the dollar gets stronger while other currencies weaken, including the Philippine peso," she said.

Selling pressure strong

Meanwhile, Luis Limlingan, Head of Sales at the Regina Capital Development Corp, noted that selling pressure in the US market was "so strong that the three major indexes went tumbling to their worst day since June 2020, spurring fears that the Fed could potentially hike even higher than 75bps."

Upon closing yesterday, the PSEi net market value turnover was recorded at P5.23 billion. All sectors were in the red with Holdings leading the losers, down by 2.32 percent.

In the index, Wilcon Depot Inc. managed to end in the green, having the biggest gain of 3.57 percent while Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. lost the most by 4.91 percent.