MANILA (UPDATE) - Mining shares plummeted on Tuesday after President-elect Rodrigo Duterte offered the top environment post to a known anti-mining advocate.
The mining sub-index dropped 488.55 points or 4.09 percent to 11,451.84 in late trading.
Philex Mining shares fell 11.29 percent to 8.09 peso, Manila Mining A shares dropped 6.67 percent to 0.014 peso, Manila Mining B shares fell 6.25 percent to 0.015 peso.
Nickel Asia fell 5.63 percent to 5.03 pesos, Lepanto Consolidated A shares dropped 7.78 percent to 0.249 peso while its B shares fell 7.02 percent to 0.265 peso.
"Crash in Ph Mining stocks this morning. There go the coal plants too. Can't look," Philex Mining Chairman Manuel Pangilinan said on his Twitter account @iamMVP.
Paul Angelo, an analyst at Regina Capital, said the mining sector was actually expected to get a boost from Duterte.
"I thought we're going to have a boost in mining stocks because as we all know, Duterte is supposed to be a pro-mining advocate. But if we're going to put into picture the current appointee, she's supposed to be anti-mining," Angelo told ANC.
Duterte's preferred environment secretary, ABS-CBN Foundation chairperson Gina Lopez, has not decided on the offer.
READ: Duterte offers DENR post to Gina Lopez
Lopez has clashed with mining companies in the past as she campaigned against "irresponsible" mining. -- With Warren de Guzman, ABS-CBN News
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