The stock market rose slightly Wednesday, with gains tempered by the political noise surrounding the infighting within the Supreme Court and the impeachment move against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index added 9.25 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,943.93 on a value turnover of P6.5 billion. Losers, however, beat gainers, 100 to 91, with 66 issues unchanged.
Conglomerate Ayala Corp. climbed 3 percent to P967, while Now Corp., which is bidding to become the third major telecommunications company, jumped 10.7 percent to P8.80. MacroAsia Corp., which provides aviation-related services, advanced 5.3 percent to P29.
Casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. slumped 8.4 percent to P12, reeling from the fallout of President Rodrigo Duterte’s rejection of putting up more casinos on Boracay Island.
The rest of Asian markets, meanwhile, were mixed. Tokyo ended 0.5 percent down, Hong Kong added 0.5 percent and Shanghai was up 0.6 percent. Singapore gained 0.5 percent, Seoul edged down 0.3 percent and Taipei put on 0.4 percent. Sydney fell 0.5 percent and Wellington also slipped.
Energy firms soared with oil prices in Asia but broader markets flitted between gains and losses after the previous day’s rally, with hopes that a China-US trade war will be averted providing support.
Wall Street provided a strong lead with all three main indexes up around two percent but regional dealers took a breather, with attention turning to the corporate earnings season, which is about to get under way.
Chinese President Xi Jinping soothed world markets on Tuesday with a conciliatory speech pledging to further open up the world’s number two economy, ease auto tariffs and take action on US intellectual property rights.
The measures address some of the key issues that have irked Donald Trump and came after the White House on Friday unveiled another round of levies on billions of dollars of Chinese goods.
His comments tempered worries about a potentially devastating trade war that could hammer the global economy just as it gets back on track after the financial crisis.
Trump tweeted that he was “Very thankful for President Xi of China’s kind words,” adding “We will make great progress together!”
The Xi speech also followed a series of tit-for-tat threats by the US and China to impose retaliatory tariffs on one another that have rattled markets in recent weeks.
“In a market starved of good news, Xi’s dialed back trade war rhetoric was music to investors’ ears,” said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at OANDA.
However, he cautioned: “While investors are relishing this moment, trade war issues are not about to leave the political stage any time soon. In fact President Xi’s remarks, while conciliatory to tariffs, were restatements of previous pledges with no new compromises to President Trump.”
Energy firms were among the biggest gainers after a rally of more than three percent for both main oil contracts Tuesday.
The crude surge came on the back of easing trade worries as well as geopolitical concerns as Western governments consider their response to an alleged chemical attack in Syria, while the US is also toying with slapping Iran with sanctions.