Axelum shares drop 6% on debut as PSEi falls

Axelum may have been a “collateral damage” of the local bourse’s decline due to global recession fears, as evidenced by weak economic data.

Shares of coconut manufacturer and exporter Axelum Resources Corp. finished 6.20 percent lower on its debut at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Monday as the main index booked losses owing to lingering recession fears.

From an IPO price of P5 apiece, Axelum was down 0.31 points to P4.69 apiece by the ringing of the bell. The company’s shares, traded under the stock symbol AXLM, swung to as low as P4.19 apiece and a high of P5.30 apiece in the session’s duration.

Axelum listed its P4 billion initial public offering on the main board of the PSE on Monday, 7 October, the first since March 2018, the proceeds of which it plans to utilize for the expansion of its main production facility in Medina, Misamis Oriental.

Head of sales for Regina Capital Development Corp. Luis Limlingan said Axelum may have been a “collateral damage” of the local bourse’s decline due to global recession fears, as evidenced by weak economic data. Payrolls in the United States rose below economists’ forecast, although the economic powerhouse also registered its lowest unemployment rate in 50 years.

Here, after losing 1.47 percent last week, the PSEi further dropped 21.38 points, or 0.28 percent, to 7,683.22 on Monday. The all shares index was down 0.20 percent to 4,666.17, while the sub-sectoral indices were mixed.

Gainers were the mining and oil index (up 1.59 percent), property index (0.59 percent) and services index (0.38 percent). On the other hand, the session’s losers were the financials index (down 0.86 percent), holding firms index (0.63 percent) and industrial index (0.16 percent).