COVID-19, tensions with China to affect market April 11, 2021 | 10:01 pm COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE, INC. TRADING at the stock market this week will remain choppy as investors monitor the rising of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country and recent tensions in the disputed West Philippine Sea. The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined by 106.54 points or 1.6% to close at 6,545.17 on Thursday. Week on week, the PSEi gained 102.08 points from its 6,443.09 close on March 31. Financial markets were closed on Friday last week in observance of the Day of Valor. “The market’s been moving with a downward bias since peaking at a little above 7,400 in January. Investor sentiment has flowed and ebbed along with developments regarding the pandemic,” PNB Securities, Inc. President Manuel Antonio G. Lisbona said in a text message on Saturday.