Philippine stock market lost 9% in January 2008

If you placed money in the Philippine stock market from the beginning of January this year, you would have already lost 9% by now. That translates to a million pesos worth only P910,000 as of January 31.

That is based on the performance of the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi), a basket of 30 listed common stocks representing the overall movement of market prices and the general state of the Philippine economy.

On January 31, the PSEi closed at 3,294.08, down 9.04% compared to its original level at the start of the year. Badly hit were the Mining and Oil sector which lost 15.12% and the Holding Firms sector which declined in value by 14.74%.

The PSEi lost 9% of its value in January 2008 alone.