Trade war worries add to PSEi’s woes
The stock market extended a run of declines on Friday with analysts again pointing to higher-than-expected August inflation, a weaker peso and concerns of an escalation in the US-China trade war as having spooked investors.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell by over 1 percent in morning trade, but a last-minute buying spree pared the day’s loss to 40.07 points or 0.53 percent for a 7,598.64 close.
The broader All Shares dipped 0.11 percent or 5.24 points to finish at 4,656.42.
“China’s warning on US tariffs may have fueled the intra-day low of the PSEi, but this bearish sentiment still stems from surprising inflation, the peso’s intraday weakness and its effect on the local economy for the remaining months of the year,” Timson Securities, Inc. trader Jervin de Celis said.
Both the peso and the stock market fell following Wednesday’s announcement that inflation hit a new nine-year high of 6.4 percent. The currency slightly recovered on Friday, adding 7 centavos to close at P53.73 versus the greenback.
Asian markets were mostly down on Friday with investors said to be worried over fresh US tariffs against Chinese goods. While Washington held off from an immediate announcement, there was also a report saying that US President Donald Trump was turning his sights on trade with Japan.
Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said the news about Japan had dented the local market.
Tokyo fell by 0.8 percent, Seoul dipped 0.26 percent, Singapore by 0.54 percent, and Bangkok was down 0.19 percent.
Shanghai, on the other hand, grew by 0.40 percent, Jakarta added 0.69 percent and Hong Kong finished flat.
Back in Manila, only the industrial index stayed in the green with a 1.04-percent rise.
Volume turnover stood at 646.7 million issues valued at P6.3 billion.
Winners led losers, 103 to 89, while 46 issues were unchanged.
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