PSEi down on US-Iran tension, oil prices
Credit to Author: Tyrone Jasper C. Piad| Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:22:43 +0000
Increasing oil price triggered by escalating tensions between the United States and Iran dampened market sentiment on Monday.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dipped by 0.53 percent or 41.92 points to close at 7,797.87 while the wider All Shares fell 0.48 percent or 22.21 points to end at 4,633.33.
“Tensions in the Middle East and the consequent rise in international oil prices dragged the local market together with its regional peers,” Philstocks Financial Inc. said in a market comment.
The political tension stemmed from US President Donald Trump’s order to kill Iran’s Quds Force commander Qassam Soleimani thru an airstrike on January 3 at the Baghdad International Airport.
Both main crude contracts were up more than 2 percent in early Asian trade, with Brent above $70 for the first time since September when attacks on two Saudi Arabian oil facilities briefly halved output by the world’s top producer.
Brokerage firm 2TradeAsia shared the same sentiment. “Thin and weak trades seen today after US-Iran tensions weigh down on investor confidence,” it said.
2TradeAsia noted as well that the bourse resulted to net foreign selling of P303 million.
Wall Street was down, with Dow Jones taking the biggest hit at 0.81 percent. Nasdaw and S&P 500 dropped by 0.79 percent and 0.71 percent, respectively.
In Asia, Tokyo plunged 1.91 percent, Shanghai dropped 0.01 percent, Hong Kong shed 0.81 percent, Seoul declined 0.98 percent, Jakarta dipped 0.85 percent, Singapore fell 0.63 percent, and Thailand skidded 1.02 percent.
In Manila, all sectors ended in red, except for mining and oil, which rose 0.34 percent.
Volume turnover stood at 664.04 million shares amounting to P4.10 billion.
Decliners led advancers, 114-80, while 45 issues were unchanged.
WITH A REPORT FROM AFP