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Philippines
Friday, March 29, 2024

Stocks up slightly; DMCI, 8990 gain

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The stock market rose marginally Friday after staying in the red for the most of the trading session, with bargain hunting boosting some second-liners.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index added 11.09 points, or 0.2 percent, to 7,546.19 on a value turnover of P6.2 billion. Losers, however, beat gainers 107 to 88, with 38 issues unchanged.

Mass housing developer 8990 Holdings Inc. climbed 3.8 percent to P7.08 after reporting earlier a net income of P4.14 billion in 2017, up 16 percent from P3.58 billion in 2016, on double-digit growth in revenues.

DMCI Holdings Inc. of the Consunji Group, which is into coal mining, power generation, construction property development and water distribution, advanced 3.8 percent to P10.80, while conglomerate Ayala Corp. gained 1.2 percent to P916.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which is into toll roads, electricity and water distribution, and hospitals, added 2.4 percent to P5.10.

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The rest of Asian markets fell on Friday, tracking another retreat on Wall Street as attention turns to the release of key US jobs data later in the day and high-level China-US trade talks in Beijing.

Hong Kong fell 1.3 percent, Shanghai ended down 0.3 percent and Sydney slipped 0.6 percent.

Seoul shed more than one percent and Singapore was off 0.8 percent, while Jakarta dropped. However, Wellington and Taipei edged up.

Tokyo was closed for a public holiday.

While the corporate earnings season has been considered a success, analysts are worried that the healthy results have not fired equities as much as expected, with warnings of a mild correction down the line.

The major macroeconomic event this week is Friday’s US non-farm payrolls figures for April, which will provide the latest snapshot of the world’s top economy. Analysts will be watching wage growth figures closely for signs of rising inflation.

There are growing concerns that with the US continuing to perform well, the Federal Reserve could be forced to lift interest rates three more times this year, having done so once already.

This, along with the fading likelihood of any near-term tightening by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, has boosted the dollar over the past week to multi-month highs against the euro and pound, as well as most other currencies.

“The dollar should continue to make gains against currencies across the board if fundamentals and central bank policy divergence matters,” said c, chief market strategist at AxiTrader, said.

“I believe it does and I can see a clear slowdown in growth globally at a time when the US seems to be the standout. And with inflation accelerating in the US but lagging elsewhere we have a clear policy divergence between the Fed and many other central banks.

“For me, that means that whatever happens with non-farms tonight… we are at the start of a big turn in the dollar.”

In Beijing, the biggest hitters in Donald Trump’s administration are meeting their Chinese counterparts to discuss the tariff spat between the two sides, which has fueled fears of a potentially damaging trade war. With AFP

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