* Philippines sees biggest intraday loss ever
* Indonesia hits fourth circuit breaker in six sessions
* Singapore headed for seventh consecutive session of losses
By Arpit Nayak
March 19 (Reuters) - Philippines plunged 24% on Thursday on
reopening after a two-day hiatus, while other Southeast Asian
stock markets also sustained heavy losses on fears over the
economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Philippine bourse .PSI opened 12.4% lower, triggering
the first 10% circuit breaker following which a 15-minute
trading halt was placed within minutes of the opening bell.
On resuming trade, the index fell 24.3%, marking its biggest
intraday percentage fall on record and hitting its lowest level
in nearly eight and a half years. With regards to Asia market, it appears that a downtrend
continues to be the case, said Jingyi Pan, market strategist at
IG, in a note.
"... With the overtly weak sentiment in the market on the
back of the global coronavirus fears, riskier Asia could remain
unfavoured by the market in the short-term."
Financial markets have been heavily hit over the past month
as coordinated efforts from major central banks to blunt the hit
of the virus that has now infected more than 210,000 people,
shutdown countries and halted business activities, failed to
calm jittery investors.
Philippines has imposed strict quarantine measures across
the island of Luzon, where capital Manila is located, in a bid
to slow the spread of the virus. The country's central bank is
expected to cut interest rates when it meets later in the day.
Indonesia's central bank is also widely expected to slash
its key policy rate on Thursday. Indonesian equities .JKSE fell 5%, triggering a circuit
breaker for the fourth time in six sessions.
Financial and consumer stocks were the biggest losers, with
Bank Central Asia BBCA.JK and household goods maker Unilever
Indonesia UNVR.JK falling about 7% each.
Singapore shares .STI dropped 4.3%, heading for a seventh
straight session of losses.
Lender Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp OCBC.SI and
conglomerate Jardine Strategic Holdings JSH.SI lost 4.2% and
11.7%, respectively.
Malysian stocks .KLSE slid 1.8% and is set for a sixth
consecutive session of losses, as the country observes a
two-week partial lockdown. Asian Companies click;
SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS as at 0304 GMT
Change on the
day
Market Current Previous Pct Move
close
Singapore 2325.18 2425.62 -4.14
Bangkok 1013.59 1048.15 -3.30
Manila 4419.56 5335.37 -17.16
Jakarta 4113.647 4330.674 -5.01
Kuala Lumpur 1218.12 1239.01 -1.69
Ho Chi Minh 719.34 747.66 -3.79
Change so far
in 2020
Market Current End 2019 Pct Move
Singapore 2325.18 3222.83 -27.85
Bangkok 1013.59 1579.84 -35.84
Manila 4419.56 7,815.26 -43.45
Jakarta 4113.647 6,299.54 -34.70
Kuala Lumpur 1218.12 1588.76 -23.33
Ho Chi Minh 719.34 960.99 -25.15