The stock market jumped Thursday on gains in Wall Street overnight and on expectations of a lower inflation rate in December and improving growth prospects for the new year.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index surged 191.40 points, or 2.6 percent, to 7,680.60 on a value turnover of P7.2 billion. Gainers overwhelmed losers, 135 to 61, with 44 issues unchanged.
Philex Mining Corp. advanced 12.6 percent to P3.74 after the Department of Energy recommended to the Department of Foreign Affairs the lifting of the moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the West Philippine Sea following the favorable relations between China and the Philippines.
Philex Unit PXP Energy Corp., through Forum Energy Ltd., earlier sought the lifting of the force majeure imposed on service contract 72, commonly known as the Recto Bank.
Puregold Price Club Inc. of tycoon Lucio Co. climbed 5 percent to P45.15, while SM Investments Corp. of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. rose 4.6 percent to P958. JG Summit Holdings Inc. of industrialist John Gokongwei gained 4.6 percent to P57.65.
Most Asian markets, meanwhile, extended the previous day’s sharp losses Thursday with technology firms tumbling after Apple slashed its revenue forecasts blaming slowing China sales.
The yen pared early sharp gains from a flash crash, which saw the dollar briefly plunge to its lowest level since March after the Apple announcement, while the Australian dollar hit a 10-year low against the greenback.
Hong Kong fell 0.3 percent in the afternoon after tanking almost three percent Wednesday, while Shanghai was marginally lower following a more than one percent drop after more weak Chinese economic data.
Seoul retreated 0.8 percent, Singapore was one percent down while Wellington gave up 0.9 percent, with Taipei and Mumbai also in negative territory.
Sydney jumped more than one percent. Tokyo was closed for a holiday.
In early trade bargain-buyers capitalized on Wednesday’s hammering across Asia but were unable to sustain momentum with sentiment weak owing to uncertainty over a number of issues including the China-US trade war, China’s economic woes, the US government shutdown, and Brexit.
Wall Street and European markets mostly recovered from early losses to end slightly higher but Apple’s announcement that it expected to earn less than expected in the key December quarter send shudders through markets.
The firm, which was already under pressure over signs that sales of its new iPhone were coming up short, blamed sluggish demand in China for the cut and citing the US trade war as a factor.
“While we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China,” chief executive Tim Cook told investors.
He told CNBC the tariffs row had “put additional pressure” on an already slowing Chinese economy, resulting in lower store and online traffic. The firm’s shares—already down about a third from their record high in March—dived seven percent in after-hours trading. With AFP