MANY retail traders in the Philippine Stock Exchange feared the opening of the market at 9:30 a.m. today because of the widely expected "buhusan" due to the real fears of Omicron, the coronavirus 2019 variant first discovered in South Africa.
Then known on as B.1.1.529, this COVID variant has been declared a variant of concern by the World Health Organization and they named it Omicron, adding to the menacing character of this creature.
Initial hype from Europe labelled Omicron as having very high infection capability, resistant to existing vaccines, etc. even with much proof.
As a result, several countries have closed their borders and suspended inbound flights from southern African nations. But still, Omicron managed to squeeze through the net, appearing in Australia, Hong Kong, Germany, the Netherlands and other areas.
Omicron necessarily spooked the global equities and financial markets, including our very own PSE.
Tsupitero Tibatiba posted in his Facebook account the PSE Projected Price: Pre-open which was very ominous-looking, with the project gainer only TWO and a long list of projected Unchanged and Projected Loser.
Although I expected this to happen during the weekend, now seeing the lineup of pre-open, I had this consoling feeling that $:GLO and $:TEL are among the Unchanged, at least not losers.
Fast forward to two hours later, the Investagrams' Pre-Open projected prices did not materialize -- no thanks to God, but thanks to the thousands of institutional buyers and retail buyers and investors who stood firm on their belief in the Philippine economy.
As of this writing (12:09 pm, Nov. 29), the index was doing a respectable 7,193.32, down by -85.12 or -1.17 percent.
Converge was at 31.30, up from its opening price of 29.80; Globe was doing 3,420, up by P20 and PLDT was trading at 1,709 for a P10 increase, holding a green hammer candle with a long wick below.
Imagine, Cebu Pacifc ($:CEB) shed only P2.40 and MacroAsia ($:MAC) was a bargain for pickers-of-the-bottom at 5.64 shedding only 40 centavos. Both Cebu Pacific and MacroAsia have green candles with wicks on top and below.
These prices are definitely not bad on the first day of trading under the Age of Omicron, which we understand produced only new varieties of COVID-19 with asymptomatic cases.
The "buhusan fears" of many have been doused with cold water. All is well, at least for now, for the Philippine bourse as we follow the trajectory of this latest hurdle called Omicron.