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Friday, March 29, 2024

Stocks rise, cheer GDP growth

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The stock market rose Thursday as investors welcomed the respectable gross domestic product figures in the fourth quarter of 2018 that showed the economy expanding at a slower pace of 6.1 percent 

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index climbed 75.25 points, or 0.9 percent, to 8,064.90 on a value turnover of P7.5 billion. Gainers beat losers, 120 to 87, with 43 issues unchanged.

The Philippine economy grew 6.2 percent in 2018, slower than 6.7 percent a year ago and missing the government’s official target range of 6.5 percent to 6.9 percent for the year, pulled down by the sluggish agriculture sector and higher inflation rate.

The Philippine Statistics Authority said Thursday the GDP also slowed to 6.1 percent in the fourth quarter from 6.5 percent a year ago. The fourth-quarter expansion was slightly higher than the revised 6-percent growth in the third quarter.

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. advanced 3 percent to P174, while Universal Robina Corp., the biggest snack food maker, rose 3.5 percent to P149.50.

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ISM Communications Corp., part of the consortium declared by the government as the country’s third major telecommunications firm, added 2.8 percent to P6.20, while PLDT Inc., the largest telecom company, gained 2.6 percent to P1,286.

The rest of Asian markets rose Thursday as investors try to ascertain the state of play in the China-US trade row, while the pound edged higher on optimism Britain will not crash out of the European Union.

However, the US government shutdown continued to rankle, with Democrats and Donald Trump digging their heels in over the president’s border wall budget demand, while a White House official warned it could hammer the world’s top economy.

For a second day, equities swung to and fro, with few solid catalysts to drive trade, though Wall Street provided a positive lead as all three main indexes ended higher following upbeat earnings from the likes of market titans Procter & Gamble and IBM.

Hong Kong rose 0.3 percent in the afternoon, Shanghai ended up 0.4 percent, Sydney gained 0.4 percent and Seoul jumped 0.8 percent, while Singapore added 0.5 percent.

There were also advances in Wellington, Taipei, and Jakarta though Tokyo closed 0.1 percent lower.

Trump on Wednesday gave an upbeat assessment of the state of affairs in the trade stand-off, saying “we’re doing very well in the negotiations” and that China “wants to make a deal”.

However, his remarks come in a week that has seen the White House deny Financial Times and CNBC reports that officials had rejected Beijing’s offer of preparatory discussions ahead of high-level talks in Washington.

Earlier, Bloomberg said the two sides were struggling to see eye to eye on the delicate issue of intellectual property.

The talks come as China struggles to reinvigorate its economy, which is growing at its weakest pace in almost three decades, while Trump is facing an increasingly bitter government shutdown just as the presidential campaign season gets into gear.

The impact of the shutdown—with Democrats refusing to provide Trump billions for his Mexico border wall—was laid out by the head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, who warned the economy could grow “very close to zero” if it continued through March. With AFP

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