PSEi down 2.32%, but still above 8,000 level
Credit to Author: Tyrone Jasper C. Piad| Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2019 16:34:05 +0000
PROFIT-TAKING pushed the stock market down on Wednesday, but not enough for it to slide out of the 8,000 territory as investors paused to evaluate recent economic reports.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) plunged by 2.32 percent or 190.80 points to finish at 8,025.88, while the wider All Shares fell by 1.70 percent or 83.01 points to close at 4,804.36.
“Philippine shares succumbed to profit-taking [after] a record-setting rally [on Tuesday], slowing down as investors assessed fresh economic data [and corporate] earnings [ahead of] the release of GDP (gross domestic product) [data on Thursday],” Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday that the country’s inflation eased to 0.8 percent in October from 0.9 percent in September and 6.7 percent a year ago. It attributed the latest figure to lower prices of food and non-alcoholic drinks.
Analysts polled by The Manila Times expect Philippine economic growth to pick up in the third quarter after easing to 5.5 percent in the first half, well below the government’s full-year target of 6 to 7 percent. Their GDP projections range between 5.7 percent and 6.3 percent, with a 6-percent average.
The National Economic and Development Authority and the PSA will release official July-to-September GDP data today, November 7.
“Perhaps, investors are anticipating lower-than-expected GDP numbers and nobody wants to be left holding the bag,” AAA Equities head of research Christopher Mangun said.
“If the 8,000 key-level does not hold in the next few days, all bets are off and the rally is over,” he added.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones and Nasdaq rose by 0.11 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. S&P, however, dropped by 0.12 percent.
Asian markets were mixed. Tokyo climbed by 0.22 percent, Seoul was up 0.07 percent, Singapore inched up by 0.34 percent and Vietnam jumped by 0.01 percent.
Shanghai slipped by 0.43 percent, Hong Kong fell by 0.04 percent, Jakarta dipped by 0.76 percent and Thailand declined by 0.24 percent.
In Manila, all sectors ended in the red, with property taking the biggest hit at 3.63 percent.
Over 595.79 million shares were traded for P5.89 billion.
Losers led winners, 109-74, while 49 issues were unchanged.